A crimson pillar of fire swept across the sky, incinerating dozens of ghosts into ashes.
But more dark figures emerged from the gaps in the flames, their twisted bodies suddenly elongating, coiling around Natsu's limbs like venomous snakes.
Dark purple energy seeped into his skin from the points of contact, and Natsu immediately felt a bone-chilling cold.
"Beware of the corrosive power of the undead!" Erza's voice echoed from a distance.
The ordinary silver armor on her body was already riddled with holes from the corrosive undead magic. She simply tossed aside her longsword, and colorless magic burst forth, a magnificent power soaring into the sky. As the ground beneath her feet cracked inch by inch, her tattered silver armor shattered, and a fiery red, ferocious armor materialized in the void, instantly attaching itself to her.
Switching to the Flame Emperor's Armor, Erza's fiery red hair billowed in the heatwave, and her eyes blazed with fire. A lava-colored greatsword appeared in her hand. She swung it fiercely, cleaving two ghosts that were lunging at Levy, the high-temperature greatsword turning the ghosts into black smoke.
"Cana! Southeast gap!"
Golden cards arced through the air, accurately hitting the groups of ghosts attempting to breach the defense line.
Cana's cards glowed with dazzling golden light: "fairy card: Sword of Judgment!"
Hundreds of golden blades impaled a large number of ghosts to the ground. Under the golden light, these ghosts melted away like winter snow.
Cana flicked her wrist, grabbing several more cards, and shouted, "Yukino, hold that position."
"Leave it to me!" Yukino's clear, cold voice rang out. The white-haired girl, riding on the back of an extraordinarily majestic silver giant wolf, instantly rushed to the gap.
On the giant wolf's back, besides Yukino, was the Celestial Spirit Libra, holding a scale.
The golden scale tilted, and a tremendous force of gravity descended from the sky in an instant.
The air within several hundred meters rapidly sank under the pressure of gravity, and the ghosts flying in the air immediately fell as if struck by lightning.
However, ghosts with the ability to shift between solid and ethereal forms were not afraid of falling to the ground.
But before they could etherealize and burrow into the ground, a green-headed boy with a mischievous smile appeared behind Yukino, his presence unnoticed until now. Marcus clasped his hands together, "gold sand: Desert Burial!"
A giant earth-Gray magic circle expanded under Marcus's feet, and immense magic power surged from the not-so-tall boy's body. The ground trembled violently, cracks tore open, and countless fine gold sand poured out from underground, like surging ocean waves.
The group of ghosts, already falling under the pressure of gravity, were perfectly engulfed by the gold sand waves.
Hundreds of ghosts were swallowed by the gold sand in the blink of an eye, never to be seen again, and the raging gold sand waves surged and spread towards the distant ghosts.
On the other side, Happy led Lucy to hide behind cover. The girl watched her fighting companions, her eyes gradually shifting from initial panic to calm determination. She clutched the golden key at her waist, "Open, gate of the Golden Bull, Taurus!"
A flash of golden light, and the Celestial Spirit taurus, whose height and build were extremely similar to Elfman's, appeared. Taurus, resembling a cow spirit, held a giant double-bladed battle-axe and took a fighting stance.
"What do you need me to do, Lucy?"
"Protect the civilians!" Lucy pointed to a second-floor window of the City Hall, where children's terrified faces could be seen.
"Leave it to me!" Taurus nodded, two streams of air snorting from his nostrils, and he picked up his axe and charged towards the building.
Taurus, seemingly honest and simple-minded, was not simple in combat power. He charged straight through, wildly swinging his giant axe, taking down one ghost after another, giving them no chance to retaliate.
The battle seemed to stabilize, but Natsu keenly noticed an anomaly.
The dispersed black mist of the ghosts did not disappear; instead, it seemed to be drawn by some force, converging towards the center.
"Gray! They're—"
Before he could finish, the black mist in the center of the plaza suddenly surged violently.
Over a dozen ghosts devoured and merged with each other, instantly transforming into a five-meter-tall giant monster.
It had eight spider-like limbs, but its head was a grotesque Splicing of three twisted human faces, from which dark purple light seeped out of its features.
"What the hell is this thing?!" Natsu jumped back, dodging a sweeping claw. The ground where he had stood was corroded into a smoking, deep pit.
The monster's three faces spoke simultaneously, their voices like fingernails scraping glass: "Mage... devour..."
Most horrifying of all, its raised forelimbs actually condensed frost.
Gray's eyes widened: "It's mimicking my magic?!"
Indeed, the next second, ice cones rained down. Natsu hastily breathed fire to block them, and the collision of ice and fire erupted into a sky full of white mist.
Erza's armor switched to Black Wing Armor, her speed dramatically increasing as she charged towards the monster's back.
But the monster's middle face suddenly twisted 180 degrees and spewed out viscous black threads.
Erza spun around quickly, but a few black threads still wrapped around her left arm, and her armor was instantly corroded with holes.
"Erza!" Natsu's eyes were bloodshot.
Flames formed a tornado around him, but the monster blocked it with Gray's Ice Wall.
This creature seemed to anticipate their every move, its eight limbs working in perfect coordination to block all attack routes.
Natsu's flames were suppressed in front of the monster, and the collision of ice and fire exploded with rings of air currents, hot steam filling the entire plaza.
The three faces of the ghostly amalgamation twisted, emitting a piercing laugh. Its eight spider-like limbs carved deep furrows in the ground, and dark purple energy flowed within its body, as if some evil life force was sustaining it.
"Gray! This guy is absorbing our magic!" Natsu shouted, flames burning on his fists, but unable to break through the monster's defense.
Gray's brows furrowed, and he quickly formed hand signs, ice-blue magic power condensing in his palms.
"If it can mimic, then let it mimic to its heart's content!"
He slammed his hands to the ground, "Ice Make: Multiple Ice Demon Swords!"
The ground instantly froze, and countless ice crystals condensed into giant blades, piercing out from underground, directly targeting the monster's abdomen.
However, the monster's middle face suddenly split into a bizarre grin, and its forelimbs also slammed to the ground—
"Crunch!"
Identical Ice Demon Swords erupted from beneath the monster's feet, colliding with Gray's ice swords, sending ice crystals scattering!
"Damn it!" Gray cursed, quickly retreating.
Just then, Natsu's pupils suddenly constricted to pinpricks.
He saw the pale woman's face on the monster's left side suddenly open its mouth, an ominous red glow appearing deep in its throat—that was clearly the precursor to Dragon's Breath!
"Everyone scatter!" Natsu's roar tore through the mist. Almost simultaneously, a crimson pillar of fire erupted from the monster's mouth, the heatwave scorching the ground until it cracked.
This mimicked Flame Breath, its power was actually three times more violent than the original!
The opponent's total magic power was extremely astonishing; otherwise, it would never have been able to do that.
Colorless light glowed around Erza, her Black Wing Armor completing its change. Black battle armor encased her entire body, and a pair of black wings spread from her back. She grabbed Cana beside her and rapidly ascended into the air.
The flames brushed past her feet, and the metal soles of her boots instantly melted into molten iron.
Gray, who was directly in the path of the Dragon's Breath, erected seven layers of Ice Wall in front of him, but they vaporized into a sky full of white mist the moment they touched the flames.
However, he had already flashed away the moment the mist rose.
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