BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosive energy bullets rained down like a meteor storm, detonating relentlessly against Erza's adamantine shields and the secondary barricades thrown up by Natsu and Gray.
Dazzling flames and deafening explosions engulfed the beach, kicking up a massive smokescreen of vaporized sand that completely obscured the Fairy Tail mages.
Watching the devastation, Puppetmon didn't show the slightest hint of disappointment.
Instead, he clapped his wooden hands and laughed heartily.
"Yes, yes! Just like that! Protecting your comrades! What a touching, dramatic performance! Perfect!"
But just as the guild's attention was focused entirely on surviving the explosions, a sly, wicked glint flashed in Puppetmon's eyes.
He raised his hands silently, his wooden fingers spreading wide.
"Puppet String!"
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Countless razor-thin, nearly invisible glowing strings shot out from Puppetmon's fingertips!
The magical wires moved at extreme speed, using the billowing smoke and explosive flames as the perfect cover.
Like invisible ghosts, the strings crossed the beach in an instant, precisely wrapping around the limbs of the Fairy Tail members—including Natsu, Gray, and Gajeel, who were entirely focused on holding the defensive line!
"Huh?!" "What is this?!" "My body... I can't move!"
Exclamations of panic rose one after another. Whoever was touched by the glowing strings instantly felt their muscles lock up.
A cold, eerie energy poured into their nervous systems, aggressively overriding their bodily autonomy and seizing complete control of their movements!
Puppetmon wiggled his fingers, wearing an innocent smile like a child playing with new action figures.
But on his painted, grotesque face, the expression was utterly terrifying.
"Come on! Let's dance!"
With a sharp twitch of his fingers—
"Ahhh! My body! It's moving on its own!"
"Stop! You damned puppet!"
"Let me go!"
The mages bound by the strings began to move completely against their own will
. Some suddenly threw punches at the companions beside them, others were forced to dance in ridiculous, humiliating motions, and several were manipulated into wrestling each other, creating a scene of utter, humiliating chaos.
"Natsu! Gray! What are you doing?!" Erza cried out in shock.
Because she was standing at the absolute front and had her Adamantine Armor's defensive magic fully flared, the strings had failed to penetrate her armor.
But seeing her comrades violently attacking each other made her heart bleed.
"I—I don't know!" Natsu growled through gritted teeth, his veins bulging as he desperately tried to fight the puppet magic.
But the controlling force of a Mega-level Digimon was terrifyingly strong.
His arm jerked upward against his will, throwing a flaming punch straight at Gray's face.
"Ice block! Duck!" Natsu roared.
"Ash brain! You think I want to hit you?!" Gray shouted back, equally helpless as his own body met the attack with an ice-covered fist.
BOOM!
Flame and frost collided, sending both of them staggering backward.
Yet the strings held them firmly, forcing them to relentlessly continue their assault on each other.
"Argh! What the hell is this thing?!" Gajeel roared, his solid steel body struggling wildly.
But the magical wires seemed capable of penetrating even iron, binding him as tightly as ever.
"This is the power of my strings!" Puppetmon giggled happily, his fingers dancing through the air as if playing a grand piano.
"Under my control, you are my obedient little toys! Come on, let's have some more fun!"
With a flick of his wrist, the controlled mages suddenly halted their brawling.
Then, all at once, they turned toward Erza and made an incredibly vulgar, synchronized taunting gesture.
"You...!" Erza's face turned pale with sheer rage.
Natsu exploded with fury. His Dragon Slayer magic erupted like a volcano. Blazing, superheated flames surged from every pore of his body, burning so hot that the invisible strings wrapped around his limbs finally snapped and turned to ash!
"What?!" Puppetmon gasped in genuine surprise.
Almost simultaneously, a cold glint flashed in Gray's eyes.
An extreme, biting chill erupted from his core! Absolute zero frost spread rapidly along the strings binding him, freezing the magical wires until they became brittle enough to shatter.
Freed from control, Natsu and Gray charged forward like tigers unleashed from a cage.
Moving in perfect sync, they lunged at Puppetmon from the left and right with overwhelming fury!
"Fire Dragon's... Iron Fist!"
"Ice-Make... Cold Excalibur!"
Puppetmon hastily retreated, manipulating the remaining bound mages to throw themselves into the path of the attack.
"Quick! Meat shields, stop them!"
Like literal puppets, Elfman, Macao, and Wakaba threw themselves at Natsu and Gray.
Their eyes were filled with panicked apology even as their bodies moved to intercept the lethal blows.
But Erza's cool, resolute voice rang out just in time.
"Requip: Heavenly Wheel Armor!"
Her figure flashed like lightning as she instantly dove into the center of the battlefield.
Silver wings of blades blossomed from her back.
"You two attack the puppet directly! I'll hold them off!"
Before her words faded, dozens of swords shot out—not to attack, but to weave an intricate, blunt-force net of steel.
With masterful, surgical precision, Erza parried, lifted, and deflected the weapons of her controlled comrades.
With her strength far surpassing theirs, she neutralized all of their attacks like a master beast tamer, firmly restricting their movements without leaving a single scratch on her friends.
"Hmph! Annoying woman!" Puppetmon stomped his wooden foot in fury as he watched his hostage shields effortlessly neutralized by a single knight.
With a furious roar, Natsu twisted his body mid-air, bypassing the blockade entirely.
He launched a flame-wreathed right fist straight at Puppetmon's painted face!
Gray coordinated seamlessly, swinging a massive broadsword of solid ice from the opposite flank to seal off the Digimon's escape route!
High above, MetalSeadramon's cold, mechanical eyes scanned the battlefield.
The colossal sea dragon abruptly dove downward.
Its massive snout—forged from the hardest metal in the Digital World—plummeted like a meteor directly into Natsu and Gray's attack trajectory!
CLANG!!!!!
Two deafening impacts erupted simultaneously.
Natsu's flaming fist and Gray's icy broadsword slammed violently into MetalSeadramon's armored snout!
Raging flames and extreme cold clashed, unleashing a massive shockwave of steam.
But as the smoke cleared, Natsu and Gray's eyes widened in sheer horror.
MetalSeadramon hadn't even flinched.
The Chrome Digizoid armor didn't have a single scratch, scorch mark, or frost crack on it.
The Mega-level dragon had effortlessly face-tanked their strongest combined assault.
"Ultimate Stream."
The robotic voice vibrated through the air.
The energy gathering in MetalSeadramon's snout wasn't blue this time... it was a blinding, absolute gold-white that seemed capable of igniting the very atmosphere.
Before the snout, a destructive energy sphere over three meters wide rapidly took form.
The surrounding air screamed as the space visibly warped under the immense pressure.
Natsu looked up at the miniature sun, his eyes burning with a stubborn, reckless fighting spirit.
"Don't screw with me! A Dragon Slayer never retreats from a head-on fight!"
He took a deep breath, pushing his magical power far past its absolute breaking point.
Crimson dragon scales emerged across his skin, his pupils narrowing into draconic slits.
He didn't hold a single drop of magic back.
His hands formed a peculiar, spiraling gesture before him as his magic violently compressed and merged.
"Dragon Slayer's Secret Art—"
Natsu roared, his voice overlapping with the literal roar of a dragon.
The fiery energy around his hands spun wildly, the intense heat fracturing the air around him.
"—Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!!!"
A fiery tornado whirled, stretched, and morphed violently in the air, transforming into a massive, spiraling drill of highly compressed crimson flames!
The drill tore through the air with a deafening screech, colliding head-on with MetalSeadramon's golden-white Ultimate Stream!
KRA-BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Crimson fire and golden-white light clashed in a spectacular, cataclysmic eruption.
The terrifying shockwave swept outward, completely upheaving the surrounding ocean and forming massive tidal waves.
Everyone on the beach was blinded by the flash, their ears ringing with the deafening roar of annihilating energy.
Natsu poured his very soul into the flames, pushing the Secret Art harder than he ever had in his life.
For one, brief, miraculous second, the crimson flames seemed to hold their ground against the golden beam.
And then, the power gap asserted itself.
With a cold mechanical hum, the Ultimate Stream simply surged forward.
It completely swallowed Natsu's ultimate attack, instantly vaporizing the Exploding Flame Blade before slamming directly into the Dragon Slayer.
Natsu was blasted out of the sky like a falling star, skipping violently across the boiling ocean before sinking beneath the waves.
"Natsu!" Gray screamed, completely drained of magic.
High above, MetalSeadramon hovered flawlessly, entirely unharmed.
Puppetmon snickered from the sidelines, twirling his hammer.
The Fairy Tail mages fell to their knees.
They had thrown their absolute best attacks and they hadn't even left a scratch on the enemy's armor.
And then, a cold, mechanical voice vibrated through the bedrock of the island.
Machinedramon moved.
Every step the colossal steel dragon took caused the island to violently quake.
It stopped directly in front of the battered, exhausted Fairy Tail mages.
The twin artillery cannons mounted on its back slowly lowered, locking perfectly onto the center of the group.
At the exact same time, Piedmon casually drew all four of his Trump Swords.
The blades hovered and rotated around him, emanating a soul-slicing sharpness.
"Kekekeke! Warm-up exercises should be about done, yes?" Piedmon tilted his head, his crimson tongue flicking across his pale lips.
"Now then. Let us begin the real game."
The most brutal, hopeless battle was only just beginning.
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