Chapter 290: Annihilating Raven Tail
"An anti-Fairy Tail guild?"
Laxus raised an eyebrow.
"Exactly. Our guild is made up of wizards whose magic leaves Fairy Tail members helpless. These four are our elites. Want to fight us? I know your weaknesses inside-out. Care to see the power we've stockpiled these seven years?"
Ivan looked at Laxus smugly.
Laxus sneered, a sound that rumbled like distant thunder echoing through the enclosed, oppressive space of the illusionary arena. The air inside this fake reality felt exceptionally heavy, stagnant with the malicious intent of the dark mages surrounding him.
Yet, despite being completely outnumbered, the Lightning Dragon Slayer stood tall, an imposing pillar of absolute confidence.
"Just you clowns?" Laxus asked, his deep voice dripping with unmistakable contempt.
He didn't even bother shifting into a combat stance, crossing his muscular arms instead. To him, the people standing before him weren't a genuine threat; they were merely a nuisance.
"Gramps has done his homework on you, Ivan," Laxus stated smoothly, his gaze piercing right through his father's arrogant facade.
"Your members' Shikigami magic, your guild's hidden location, your dirty funds, and every single move you've made over these past seven years. He knows it all."
"What?!"
Ivan gasped, the smug superiority wiping from his face in a fraction of a second.
His eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated panic as beads of cold sweat quickly formed on his forehead.
"It's Gajeel—we were duped by that bastard!" Ivan hissed, his face twisting in sudden realization and burning fury.
The Iron Dragon Slayer hadn't been an outcast seeking power; he had been a loyal hound playing a dangerous game of espionage.
"So he was a double agent?" one of the elites muttered, taking a hesitant step back.
Ivan finally realized the bitter, humiliating truth. Only Gajeel Redfox had been privy to all of their highly classified intel. They had welcomed a Fairy Tail spy directly into their inner sanctum.
Laxus's expression hardened, his eyes glowing with a faint, intimidating golden light.
"Gramps knows everything, yet he never lifted a finger against you," Laxus continued, his voice laced with a mixture of pity and underlying rage.
He understood the boundless, often painful mercy his grandfather possessed for his own blood.
"Had he given the word, your pathetic excuse for a guild would've been turned to dust long ago."
"Shut up!!"
Ivan, utterly humiliated and driven to madness by the sheer magnitude of his own inferiority, lost whatever remained of his composure. He flung his arms out, unleashing a massive swarm of enchanted paper dolls.
The Shikigami fluttered rapidly through the stale air, morphing into sharp, bladed projectiles aimed at Laxus's vital points.
Laxus didn't chant, nor did he flinch. He simply raised a muscular arm, manifesting a localized barrier of golden lightning that vaporized the paper dolls into harmless ashes effortlessly.
"I've lived in the cold darkness for this very day! All for Lumen Histoire!" Ivan roared, his face contorting into a hideous mask of greed.
The veins on his neck bulged visibly as he screamed the name of Fairy Tail's supreme secret.
"Seven years without attacking you? Of course I waited—how could those surviving scraps know where it is?!"
He clawed at the air in pure frustration, pacing like a trapped, rabid beast.
"The guild building, the town of Magnolia, Tenrou Island—everywhere linked to Fairy Tail—I searched them all!! And still nothing!!"
Ivan glared at his son, his eyes bloodshot and completely unhinged.
"Where is Lumen Histoire?! Where is it hiding?! Tell me, Laxus!!"
The golden lightning coiling around Laxus flared brighter, crackling with an intimidating, destructive intensity.
"You're my son!! You owe me this!" Ivan screamed, spit flying from his trembling lips.
When Laxus remained silent, an unyielding wall against his demands, Ivan's frayed patience snapped completely.
"Obra!! Move!! Erase his magic!! Unleash the full power of our anti-Fairy Tail guild right now!!"
Obra, the small, creepy figure cloaked in darkness, lunged forward like a shadowy phantom. His bizarre familiar stretched out with terrifying speed, aiming to latch onto Laxus and drain his magical reserves completely dry.
But Laxus was a monster of a completely different caliber. He beat him to it.
Before Obra's familiar could even close half the distance, Laxus turned into a literal flash of blinding lightning, his speed completely untrackable by the naked eye.
He materialized instantly beside Obra, bypassing all magical defenses in a millisecond. With a flawless sweep of his leg, Laxus delivered a devastating, lightning-infused kick that sent the creepy mage skidding violently across the sand.
"Crimson Hair!"
Flare Corona cackled hysterically, her fiery red hair expanding exponentially. The thick locks whipped toward Laxus like a swarm of enraged, venomous vipers.
The razor-sharp strands lashed out aggressively, burning with a frightening heat as they aimed to tightly bind his limbs.
Laxus sidestepped effortlessly, his movements fluid and perfectly calculated. He weaved through the chaotic barrage of hair, leaving Flare to strike nothing but empty air.
"Take this!"
Nullpudding charged from his blind spot, utilizing his strange body-altering magic. His arm transformed into a massive, heavy, thorn-studded club of hardened muscle.
He swung the brutal weapon directly at Laxus's torso, aiming to crush his ribs with raw, physical force.
Laxus didn't even attempt to dodge. He simply extended his hand and caught the spiked club with his bare palm.
A heavy shockwave rippled through the air, but Laxus's arm didn't budge a single millimeter. Golden sparks flew furiously upon the heavy impact.
"The guy Ren farmed points from on day one?" Laxus taunted, a dark, mocking smirk finally playing on his lips.
His golden eyes locked onto Nullpudding's terrified face.
"Think losing to him means a weakling like you can even touch me?"
Crack!
Laxus tightened his grip, completely crushing the hardened, thorned club with pure, monstrous physical strength.
"Oooaaah!!"
Nullpudding screamed in pure agony as his transformed arm was shattered.
With one brutal, unforgiving punch, Laxus slammed Nullpudding face-first into the sandy ground. The sheer kinetic force behind the blow created a massive crater, knocking the elite mage out cold instantly.
Whoosh!
A sudden, slithering movement caught Laxus off guard for a mere fraction of a second. Thick, burning crimson strands tightly coiled around his left arm, anchoring him in place.
"Gotcha!"
Flare shouted, her eyes wide with manic, victorious glee as she pulled the hair taut.
Laxus didn't struggle. He simply glanced down at his bound arm, his expression utterly bored, as if dealing with a mildly annoying insect.
"Can't even beat Mira, and you seriously want to beat me?"
Laxus opened his mouth, drawing in a massive breath of air. The ambient magic particles gathered violently around his jaw, condensing into raw, unstable electrical energy.
A torrent of wild, deafening golden lightning roared out like a dragon's breath, illuminating the entire illusionary space.
"Kyaaahhh!!"
Flare screamed in pure, unadulterated agony as the high-voltage current traveled instantly through her hair. The shock surged through her entire nervous system, scorching her skin and sending her flying backward, leaving a trail of black smoke.
Just as her unconscious body hit the ground, the sand suddenly swirled aggressively behind Laxus.
It twisted and condensed rapidly, forming into the slender, sinister figure of Kurohebi, ready to strike while Laxus's back was turned.
"The creep who loves wrecking what others cherish?"
Laxus noted, his voice dropping to a dangerous, rumbling baritone without even bothering to look over his shoulder.
"Uwaahhh!!"
Kurohebi lunged, his mimicking magic primed to steal Laxus's technique.
With a casual, dismissive wave of his hand, Laxus unleashed his magical power. He blasted a massive, concentrated pillar of golden lightning straight through Kurohebi.
The intense, blinding electrical blast completely overwhelmed the dark mage, erasing his attack and blasting him into unconsciousness before he could even register the pain.
"I-impossible!! My elite squad—!!"
Ivan watched in absolute, paralyzing disbelief. His jaw dropped, and his knees weakened as his carefully built team was casually cut down like weak vegetables.
These were mages meticulously tailored over seven years to perfectly counter Fairy Tail!
When had Laxus grown this overwhelmingly strong? Was this monstrous powerhouse truly still the Laxus he knew?
Laxus slowly turned his piercing gaze toward his trembling father, the crackling electricity completely illuminating his stoic face.
"Dad, you missed my growth," Laxus stated, his voice devoid of any familial warmth or hesitation. "I'm not the kid you could push around anymore."
Ivan stumbled backward, his back hitting the invisible, magical barrier of his own grand illusion. There was nowhere left to run.
"W-wait!! I'm your father! Your family!" Ivan stammered, raising his hands defensively, his voice cracking with pathetic desperation. "You can't raise a hand to your own dad!!"
Laxus's eyes narrowed, a cold, righteous fury burning brilliantly within them.
"Oh? Yet I heard you planned to violently extract my Dragon Slayer Lacrima from my body and sell the crystal for cash."
Ivan flinched violently, his face turning a sickly, ghostly pale.
"N-no… that was…"
"Enough." Laxus interrupted, raising his right fist. The air around it warped from the sheer density of the gathered lightning.
"Once I was naïve and called you family. I was desperate for your approval."
The lightning around Laxus expanded dramatically, illuminating the entire dome with a blinding, majestic golden brilliance that threatened to tear the fake reality apart.
"Now I see clearly: Fairy Tail is my true family, and I'll crush anyone who threatens them!!"
Laxus lunged forward with explosive, untrackable speed, leaving a brilliant trail of golden lightning following his every movement. He closed the distance in a millisecond and punched Ivan squarely in the chest.
"Uwaaah!!"
Ivan screamed in absolute agony. His body was launched backward with the force of a cannonball, violently crashing into the arena wall.
With its caster utterly incapacitated, the heavy, dark illusion instantly shattered like fragile glass, raining down invisible shards of dispelled magic.
The real scene of the Domus Flau was instantly revealed to the tens of thousands of cheering, oblivious spectators.
[W-what is this?! What happened?!]
Chapati Lola's voice boomed through the lacrima speakers, his professional commentary laced with absolute, unbridled confusion.
"Master Ivan!! Alexei's true identity is Master Ivan!! Pumpkin!!"
Host Mato the Pumpkin Head was utterly stunned, his oversized mask bobbing in sheer disbelief as he pointed a trembling finger at the fallen guild master.
The entire stadium erupted into absolute chaos as they saw the beaten, broken bodies of the fallen Raven Tail members scattered across the sandy arena floor.
[So the Laxus and Alexei we saw fighting just moments ago were nothing but illusions?! Standing here is the real Laxus!!]
Chapati Lola quickly caught on to the deception, his commentator instincts taking over the shock.
[The battle's over! As you all clearly saw, all five of them ganged up on him, with even their guild master joining the fray—an outright foul of the highest order!!]
[Laxus single-handedly defeated all five elites from Raven Tail! Winner: Laxus Dreyar of Fairy Tail Team B!!]
The crowd's confused silence completely transformed into a deafening, earth-shaking roar of applause and awe.
"He wiped out Raven Tail all by himself?!"
"First Erza facing a hundred monsters, then Mira crushing a dark mage, and Ren who casually beat a Wizard Saint—are Fairy Tail all monsters?!"
The spectators buzzed with a newfound, terrifying respect.
At first, they thought only Ren was absurdly strong, an anomaly carrying a weak guild. Yet, even without him participating these past two days, Fairy Tail still completely dominated, steadily climbing to rank first and second.
It wasn't just one wizard's individual might—the entire guild was a unified, unstoppable powerhouse.
Up in the stands, Makarov glared down at Ivan's bruised and battered body.
"That move was despicable, Ivan," Makarov murmured, his voice heavy with profound sorrow and disappointment.
Ivan was his own flesh and blood, his son. But his twisted, ends-justify-the-means ways, his willingness to harm his own family for power, left Makarov wishing he'd taken decisive action sooner.
Down in the arena, Laxus slowly stepped down from the rubble, his expression completely unreadable, unaffected by the roaring cheers.
"Laxus..." Ivan groaned, struggling to lift his bloodied head from the dirt.
"I lost this round. But remember: Lumen Histoire is Fairy Tail's darkness. The day will come when Fairy Tail's true face is revealed."
"Hmph! I don't care, and I trust Gramps, not you."
Though Ivan's ominous words momentarily nagged at the back of his mind, Laxus knew right from wrong—and his father was definitely on the wrong side of it. He wouldn't let lies poison his newfound faith in his true family.
The Rune Knights and stadium guards soon rushed onto the field in a disorganized panic. They swiftly dragged Ivan away in magic-sealing cuffs, along with the unconscious bodies of the rest of Raven Tail.
[The verdict: Raven Tail's results are voided!! Banned from the tournament for three years!!]
[Despite this fiasco, we proceed to the fourth match of the day!!]
[Gray Fullbuster of Fairy Tail A vs. Lyon Vastia of Lamia Scale!!]
"I'm up!"
Gray grinned; Lyon had always outdone him since childhood—time to settle the score.
"Gray? Let me show you how wide the seven-year gap really is!"
Lyon's Battle Intent flared at facing Gray.
[Akarin Note:
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