Chapter 208: I Knew This Would Happen
In the air, the Blue Sphere and the Crimson Sphere slowly began to fuse, forming a purple orb.
BOOM——————!!
"Hollow Technique: Purple."
Allowing the forward and reverse Magic Circles to collide, causing the resulting Imaginary Mass to burst forth.
The world went silent for a fraction of a second. It wasn't the silence of peace, but the terrifying void of sound being erased. Then, the brilliant purple light rapidly expanded and spread, destroying everything covered by its radiance.
"Waaahhhhhh!!"
"Waaahhhhhh!!" ...The light engulfed the Legion Unit.
The powerful impact continually tore apart the Edolas Kingdom Royal Palace. The structure, which had always been indestructible—a symbol of the King's absolute authority—now crumbled and crushed like a block of tofu under the hammer of a god. The ancient stone spires, the reinforced magical barriers, the luxurious tapestries of the throne room; none of it mattered. The purple void didn't just break them; it deleted them from existence.
Even those on the ground, miles away from the epicenter, were pressed down by the terrifying shockwave. The atmospheric pressure dropped so violently that lungs seized, unable to draw breath. Soldiers and civilians alike were pinned to the pavement, unable to lift their heads, letting out screams of terror as the sky turned the color of a bruised plum.
The terrifying shockwave spread outwards, centered on the Royal Palace, affecting half the city. Windows shattered in the commercial district, and the ground groaned as if in pain.
Only after a long time did everything slowly subside. The purple glow faded, leaving behind a thick, gray curtain of dust and the smell of ozone mixed with pulverized stone.
Whoosh!
Natsu Dragneel crawled out from the rubble of a collapsed wall. He coughed, waving the dust away from his face. His eyes widened as he looked at the scene of destruction before him, utterly speechless from shock. Where a majestic castle once stood, blocking out the sun, there was now only a perfect, spherical crater carved into the earth, biting deep into the bedrock of the capital.
Crash!
Gajeel Redfox also emerged from beneath a slab of concrete. He dusted off his iron scales, his breath hitching in his throat. Seeing the sight before him, the grumpy expression on his face froze completely.
"Th-this monster!!"
Gajeel knew Ren was a monster; he realized this effectively during their confrontation back in the Phantom Lord war. He remembered the feeling of helplessness when Ren had casually overpowered him. He wasn't even very surprised later when Ren defeated Jose Porla, one of the Ten Wizard Saints, single-handedly.
But this guy... he kept refreshing Gajeel's understanding of him again and again. Just when you thought that was his limit, you realized it was merely a casual attack from the opponent. This wasn't a desperate ultimate move fueled by the power of friendship or rage. It was a calculated, mathematical erasure of reality. Ren hadn't even broken a sweat.
"Is he even a Dragon Slayer?" Gajeel muttered to himself, his iron fists clenching involuntarily. "Or is he something else entirely? That power... it felt like the world itself was rejecting the palace."
Lucy and Wendy also crawled out from behind a protective barrier Ren had likely set up for them beforehand. They were equally stunned, trembling as they looked at the smoking void.
"Didn't he say he wouldn't use a powerful move?!" Lucy shrieked, her hands gripping her head in disbelief.
She had previously heard Ren jokingly say he would use the Thunder Lance to destroy the Edolas Royal Capital in one shot. During the battle against the Oración Seis, she had witnessed Ren's Thunder Lance; that single shot had vaporized 'Nirvana', the ancient super-weapon capable of turning light to darkness.
Although Nirvana was nowhere near as large as the Edolas Royal Capital, its terrifying impact force could definitely wipe the Edolas Royal Capital off the map. Seeing the aftermath of this "Purple" technique, Lucy realized with horror that Ren hadn't been boasting. He had been stating a fact. If he had aimed that attack at the ground instead of the palace, the entire island might have sunk into the abyss.
"I... I knew it..."
Carla hugged her tail, her small body shaking uncontrollably. Her eyes were wide, staring at the empty space in the skyline.
When Ren had said that before, Carla had vaguely seen the image of the Royal Palace being destroyed in her Precognition. When she saw Ren slaughtering everyone in the Royal Palace courtyard earlier with martial arts and gravity manipulation, she thought that was how the Royal Palace would be destroyed by him—piece by piece, soldier by soldier.
But she was wrong. The current scene was exactly the same as the vision she had vaguely seen. The clean, spherical destruction. The silence.
"This guy, Ren, wasn't joking at all," Carla whispered, her voice barely audible over the wind. "He genuinely wanted—no, he genuinely could—completely destroy the Edolas Royal Capital on a whim."
In the distance, amidst the ruins of the courtyard, the elite commanders of the Royal Army were pulling themselves together. Panther Lily, Erza Knightwalker, Hughes, and Sugarboy—the Captains of the Magic Warfare Units—were all dumbfounded upon seeing this scene. They stood amidst the debris of their home, their weapons hanging loosely at their sides.
Erza Knightwalker widened her eyes in disbelief: "No... this... how is this possible?! Can a person truly accomplish this?"
She looked at her spear, the Ten Commandments, the weapon she believed to be the pinnacle of strength. Compared to the void Ren had just created, her spear felt like a toothpick. She had barely managed to dodge Ren's previous attack, the Red repulsion, at the critical moment. She was still affected by the Repulsive Force and sustained some injuries, her armor cracked and her breath ragged. She had been planning to get back at Ren, to analyze his patterns and find a weakness, when she witnessed the scene that just occurred.
Ren's attack shattered her understanding of magic. Such immense destructive power could no longer be contained by magical items made of any material. It wasn't about limited usage or recharging weapons; it was an infinite well of power.
"Is this the magic of Earth Land..." Knightwalker whispered, a cold chill running down her spine. "Is this the difference between our worlds?"
Panther Lily stared in shock at the scene before him. His giant sword, Bustermarm, had been shattered by a single blow from Ren previously, and he himself had been severely wounded by Ren in just one exchange.
Therefore, he clearly knew how terrifying that man's strength was, yet he realized he had still underestimated the opponent. That strike had erupted in the sky; if it had erupted near the ground, he dared not imagine what the scene would look like.
'He held back,' Lily realized with a start. 'He aimed high on purpose. If he hadn't... we would all be dust.'
"Hmm... a monster then..."
Hughes, the Captain of the 3rd Magic Warfare Unit, adjusted her glasses, her usual arrogance replaced by a grim realization. She looked at Ren's figure in the distance and drew her conclusion. Her Command Wand could control people, but how could she control a natural disaster?
"No... not a monster... a super! Super, super monster!!"
Sugarboy, the Captain of the 4th Magic Warfare Unit, said with an exaggerated look of fear, his flamboyant pompadour drooping slightly. His magic was the Rosa Espada, which could soften anything, but the emptiness Ren created couldn't be softened. "That wasn't just strong! It was SUPER terrifying! My knees are shaking! It's not fabulous at all!"
"Waaahhhhhh!!"
"Monster!!"
"Run quickly————!!"
The morale of the Royal Army collapsed instantly. Many surviving Kingdom Army Soldiers scattered in panic. Although they were already very afraid of Ren, they originally held the absolute advantage in numbers. They had believed that 100,000 soldiers could overwhelm any mage through sheer attrition.
The Mages from Earth Land also have finite magical power in their bodies. As long as the opponent's magical power is exhausted, they become no different from ordinary people. That was the doctrine they were taught. That was the logic of war.
But after this one attack from Ren, their fear was completely ignited.
What kind of joke is this! Fight against a monster like that?!
This monster could completely destroy the Royal Capital with a single strike. Even if they had a million soldiers, what difference would it make if he could just erase them all with a wave of his hand?
Numbers?
Numbers were completely useless in front of a powerhouse like this. If the opponent wished, they could erase every single one of them along with the Royal Capital using that single move. They were ants trying to fight a god who controlled space itself.
Just at this moment.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Survival instinct turned into desperate aggression. The remaining automated defense turrets and the few soldiers who hadn't fled fired missiles toward Ren's location.
Boom boom boom boom boom boom!!!
Explosions covered the area around Ren. The black smoke of the detonations mixed with the dust of the ruined palace.
"Ren!!"
"Brother Ren!!"
Lucy and Wendy couldn't help but worry when they saw this scene. Ren must have expended a great deal of Magic Power using that "Purple" move just now, and he might not be able to withstand an attack at this moment. Even a monster has limits, right? The Infinity barrier required mental processing power; could he keep it up after such a massive output?
"None of you are permitted to run!"
A commanding voice rang out, cutting through the chaos like a blade. It was a voice filled with madness and absolute authority.
"That voice... it's His Majesty!"
Erza Knightwalker looked in the direction the voice came from and saw a machine shaped like a dinosaur appear atop the Royal Palace Ruins.
It was a metallic beast of black and gold, sleek and terrifying. Its eyes glowed with a malevolent red light, and its tail whipped back and forth, smashing debris aside.
Panther Lily recognized the object, his pupils constricting. "This is... Dorma Anim (Dragon Knight Armor)..."
"Hmm... His Majesty even brought out this weapon?!"
Hughes said in surprise. This thing consumes a vast amount of Magic Power and even absorbs Magic Power from the atmosphere. Because the magical power in this world is inherently limited, this is also a Forbidden Weapon. Using it meant draining the lifeblood of Edolas itself, accelerating the death of their world. But the King didn't seem to care.
"My soldiers! Your King is right here!!"
The cockpit of the mechanical dragon hissed open, revealing King Faust. His eyes were wide with madness, his beard bristling with rage.
"Ah ha ha ha ha ha!! The King's power is omnipotent!! The King's power is absolute!!!"
He laughed maniacally, his voice amplified by the armor's systems, echoing across the ruins of his city.
"My soldiers! The invaders are only a handful of people, and their Magic Power is limited! That move just now must have consumed a huge amount of their Magic Power, and they won't be able to use it again. It is physically impossible for a human mage to sustain that level of output!"
Faust pointed a mechanical claw at the smoke cloud where Ren had disappeared.
"As long as we keep attacking, we can completely eliminate the invaders! We are the great Edolas Kingdom, and we cannot allow these invaders to run wild in our Edolas Kingdom!!! I will drain every drop of magic from them and use it to build a new palace, a new world!"
The voice of King Faust echoed throughout the Royal Capital, carrying a strange, hypnotic charisma. It was the desperate rally of a tyrant who refused to lose.
The soldiers, hearing their King's confidence and seeing the legendary Dragon Knight, hesitated in their flight.
"That's right! That move just now must have consumed a massive amount of that guy's Magic Power!"
"His Majesty has already deployed the Dorma Anim! It's the ultimate anti-magic armor!"
"Under His Majesty's leadership, we are certain to achieve victory!"
"Kill them! Kill the invaders!!" ...All the fleeing Kingdom Army Soldiers regained their courage, regrouped, and prepared to launch an attack on Natsu and the others. The fear of the monster was momentarily replaced by the fanaticism of their loyalty.
Suddenly!
Ren's voice rang out in the sky, calm, bored, and utterly unimpressed.
"As expected! Some people are beyond saving!"
Everyone looked toward the source of the voice and saw Ren currently floating upside down high above the Royal Capital, his hands tucked into his pockets.
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