Chapter 160: If He Won't Give It, I'll Take It
As the eight swirling orbs of Cursed Technique Reversal: Blue dissipated into nothing, the crushing, invisible pressure around Evergreen vanished. She collapsed to her knees on the rooftop, gasping for air, her body trembling uncontrollably. The terror was so profound that relief was slow to come.
"Ren," she panted, her voice shaking as she clutched the tattered remnants of her dress. "You truly are a heartless man... not even lifting a finger to save your own woman!"
Ren turned back, his posture relaxed, but his right index and middle fingers remained intertwined. It was a subtle, terrifying gesture—a clear sign that he was still maintaining the stance, ready to activate his Domain Expansion at any moment.
"Ah—!"
Evergreen, seeing him turn, instinctively tried to shield her body, her mind flashing back to the raw, tearing force of the 'Blue' spheres. She then froze, realizing with a jolt of confusion that Ren was still, and had been the entire time, completely blindfolded.
"You should be grateful," Ren's calm voice cut through the night, devoid of any emotion. "If I had sensed even the slightest flicker of magic converging in your eyes just now, I would have activated my domain in 0.01 seconds. I would have interrupted your spell, shattered your mind, and then let the 'Blue' spheres devour you entirely. Your hostages would have been perfectly safe."
Evergreen's expression stiffened. Cold sweat, different from the sweat of exertion, beaded on her forehead. Only then did she truly understand. He had never intended to give up on saving them. His threat to sacrifice them had been a lie, a psychological gambit to break her.
If she had truly harbored the thought of killing Mirajane and the others, if she had tried to follow through on her threat, it would have been a fatal miscalculation. Not only would Mira and the others have been unharmed, but she herself would have been absolutely, instantly doomed.
She didn't believe Ren was bluffing. She had truly experienced his strength, and it was a terrifying, alien power she couldn't even comprehend. It was clear she couldn't contend with him. She wasn't just beaten; she was in a completely different league.
"Go find the Master and accept your punishment later," Ren said, his voice now filled with a cold finality. "If you ever dare to pull a stunt like this again—threatening my family, even if everyone ends up fine—I will personally turn you into a drooling idiot for a month. Go."
Whoosh!
Without waiting for a reply, Ren's body vanished. He teleported, leaving Evergreen alone in the sudden, crushing silence.
Evergreen's strength finally gave out. She collapsed fully onto the cold stone, panting heavily. "Too... too terrifying... Is this... is this that Ren?"
Watching his battle with Jose from afar and actually fighting him were two completely different experiences. None of her magic could harm him. Her attacks couldn't even pass through his 'Infinity'. Yet his magic could tear her apart with casual ease. Even if she could fly, she couldn't escape his teleportation. The pressure was absolute, suffocating. She had been defeated not by his power, but by his mere presence.
Fairy Tail Guild
[Ren VS Evergreen]
[Winner: Ren]
The invisible text of the enchantment dissipated from the air.
Bang—!
A moment later, the sound of stone cracking echoed through the guild hall. All the girls who had been petrified—Levy, Juvia, Bisca, and even Lucy, who was still on the stage—returned to their normal state, the grey, stone-like texture flaking off them.
"Huh? What is this?"
"Juvia? What happened? My clothes are... hard?"
"What... happened to us?" Lucy looked down at her hands, confused.
The girls were all bewildered, looking around at the half-empty, tension-filled guild hall. They had no memory of what had happened after Evergreen had looked at them.
Makarov, who had been trapped behind Freed's barrier, let out an immediate, booming sigh of relief. "Well done, Ren! He did it!"
His greatest concern had been the safety of these girls. Now that they were safe, Laxus no longer had any hostages. This absurd and dangerous grand brawl could finally end.
"Master? What happened here?" Erza asked. She had been petrified mid-transformation, and her voice was sharp with confusion as she looked around. "Why isn't anyone else here?"
Makarov's expression turned grim as he explained the situation—Laxus's "Battle of Fairy Tail" and the rules he had set.
"The Fairy Tail Grand Brawl?!" Lucy's eyes widened in disbelief. She hadn't expected such a thing to happen in the Guild in just the blink of an eye. "He... he took everyone hostage?"
"Laxus, doing something like this?" Cana, who had also been freed, massaged her temples. Although she was only eighteen, she was already considered a veteran in the Fairy Tail Guild, among the first Mages to know Laxus. "I knew he was obsessed with strength, but this is insane."
"But it's over now," Makarov said, his voice firm. "Since you've all returned from being stone statues, you don't have to play this boring game with Laxus anymore."
Suddenly!
A figure flickered into existence in the middle of the guild hall, composed of crackling golden lightning.
"The game isn't over yet, old man."
"Laxus!!"
The figure that appeared was indeed Laxus, or rather, a perfect, glowing copy of him. The girls all tensed, glaring at him angrily.
"It's a Thought Projection!" Erza identified it immediately, her hand moving to where her sword hilt should be.
Makarov, his face turning red with rage, angrily shouted at the projection, "Laxus! The hostages are gone! Who would want to play this boring game with you anymore?! Come back here obediently and accept your punishment!!"
Laxus's projection merely scoffed, his arms crossed. "Hostages? After all, her opponent was Ren. I had already anticipated Evergreen's defeat. I didn't expect her to lose so quickly, but it doesn't matter. I already made an extra preparation. Now, it will come in handy."
"For the Fairy Tail Grand Brawl to continue... I'm going to activate the Thunder God's Palace."
[Akarin's Note: The "Thunder God's Palace" (Raijinshuu in Japanese) is a powerful, large-scale magic used by Laxus. It creates hundreds of floating 'Lightning Lacrima' over a target, which can be detonated remotely.]
"The Thunder God's Palace?!"
Makarov's eyes widened in disbelief and horror. He knew about that magic. It wasn't a game; it was a magic capable of destroying an entire city.
"Laxus! What exactly do you want to do?!"
"What do I want to do?" The projection laughed, a cold, arrogant sound. "I want you to hand over the Fairy Tail Master position to me."
"Is that your goal?!" Makarov's eyes widened. He hadn't expected Laxus's childish rebellion to be a full-blown coup.
"Yes! This Guild is too weak, and you're old. The Guild Master position should have been handed over to me a long time ago, but you've been dragging your feet and refusing," Laxus's voice was filled with contempt. "Since you won't give it, I'll just have to take it. Announce loudly to the entire town using the Guild's loudspeaker that you're handing over the Fairy Tail Master position to Laxus Dreyar, and then this grand brawl can end."
Makarov immediately refused, his voice shaking with rage. "Impossible!! I already passed the Master position to Ren! If it weren't for that kid's stubborn refusal, Ren would already be the Fairy Tail Master!"
"Ren?!"
"Master?!"
Except for Mira, who knew, the other girls—Erza, Lucy, Cana, Juvia, and Bisca—were all astonished to hear Makarov's words. They were stunned, not expecting that the Master had already tried to pass the guild on... and to Ren.
Erza's mind flashed back to the Tower of Heaven, to Ren's calm, overwhelming power. 'Of course,' she thought, 'who else could it be?'
Lucy was just baffled. 'Ren? He's... he's younger than me! And he... refused?!'
Upon hearing this news, Laxus's projection's eyes momentarily lost focus. The smug, arrogant mask shattered. Then, his face became distorted, twisted by a profound, guttural rage.
"OLD MAN—!!" he roared.
"You would give the incredibly important Fairy Tail Master position to an outsider?! A kid who's only been in the Guild for just over a year?! But you won't give it to me, your own grandson!!"
Laxus had grown up always believing he would inherit Fairy Tail. From a young age, he had naturally, and arrogantly, assumed he would be the next Fairy Tail Master.
But he never, in all his calculations, expected the Fairy Tail position to be given by the old man to a new kid. The old man would rather give the Master position to an outsider—a strong one, yes, but an outsider nonetheless—than to him, his own blood, his own grandson.
Laxus felt like his home, his birthright, had been stolen.
"Good... good... GOOD!" the projection roared. "If that's the case, then I'll just have to rely on violence to reclaim what's mine!! Old man!! You forced me to do all of this!!"
After Laxus finished speaking, his body vanished in a crackle of lightning.
"Hey! Look outside!" Lucy, who was near the broken window, pointed outside and shouted.
Everyone also rushed outside the Guild, only to see hundreds of spherical magic crystals slowly floating into the sky. They spread out, forming a vast, glowing ring. Each magic crystal was filled with powerful, unstable lightning magic, and these crystals formed a circle in the sky, surrounding the entire city of Magnolia.
Makarov's eyes widened, and he angrily shouted, "The Thunder God's Palace?! What are you thinking, Laxus!! Are you really going to involve innocent people!!"
"Ugh!"
As he roared, Makarov suddenly felt a tightening in his chest, a sharp, crushing pain that shot from his heart and down his arm.
"Master?!!"
"What's wrong?!!"
"Oh no!!" Mira, who had just come downstairs with the medicine, saw his expression. "The medicine I've been... Master!"
Makarov, his face contorted in pain, gasped and collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest.
"Master, pull yourself together!!" Erza and the others screamed, rushing to his side.
Cardia Cathedral
Freed Justine stood behind the real Laxus, watching as his leader's hands trembled, the golden aura of his Thought Projection magic dissipating.
Freed looked out the high cathedral window at the ring of floating lightning lacrima now hanging over the unsuspecting city. His expression was solemn. "Laxus... must it come to this?"
Laxus turned from the window, his face a mask of distorted, unhinged fury. "I didn't want to go this far," he spat, his voice a low growl. "But that old man... he forced me to."
[Akarin Note:
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