"Laxus?!"
Seeing such heavy-duty backup arrive, Natsu and the others instantly looked like they'd won the lottery. Even Erza finally let out a breath she'd been holding.
Jura glanced at the shattered remains of his rock wall, then turned an appreciative eye toward the new arrival. So this is Makarov's grandson? he thought. Talk about a chip off the old block. He actually feels more intimidating than Miss Erza!
On the other side, Brain stared stone-faced at the fuming Laxus. He let out a cold snort. "Big deal. What's one more body on the pile?"
Then... he decided it was time to wake up the big gun.
"Midnight!"
At the sound of his name, Midnight pried his sleepy eyes open and stood up from his flying carpet.
Midnight had short black hair, crimson eyes, and skull earrings dangling from his lobes. But his most "unique" feature—the one that really made him stand out in a crowd—was the purple lipstick smeared on his mouth.
He was another one of the kids Brain had rescued from the "Tower of Heaven" years ago. At just twenty years old, his magic had already surpassed Brain's, making him the undisputed heavy hitter of the Oración Seis—second only to the Guild Master, Zero.
Brain barked a cold order: "Kill them. Every last one of them!!!"
Midnight clearly wasn't a morning person. Being woken up put him in a foul mood, and a faint, murderous aura began to bleed off him. "Got it, Father."
With the immediate danger gone, Jura lowered his stone defense. Everyone knew that Round 3 was about to get ugly.
Hearing the exchange, Natsu looked confused. "Father? Are they actually related?"
Gray chimed in with a dry wit, "They sure don't look like they share the same DNA."
"Come on! All of you, at once!" Laxus barked. He took two thunderous steps forward, golden lightning sparking and dancing in his palms. He wasn't just looking for a fight; he was looking to take on all seven of them by himself.
Erza immediately tried to reel him in. "Wait! Laxus, don't be reckless! These guys aren't pushovers—"
"Zip it!"
"Since Father gave the order, you're all dead meat!"
Midnight stepped forward, his eyes locking onto Laxus. He reached out a hand, and the very air around Laxus began to warp and distort with an eerie magical hum.
"??"
His instincts screaming, Laxus reacted in a heartbeat. He turned into a literal bolt of lightning, blinking out of the distorted space and reappearing right in the middle of the enemy formation!
CRACK-BOOM!
"What?!"
"Too fast!"
Laxus was like a tiger in a cage of wolves. His fists, wreathed in golden lightning, became a blur of raw violence. Even Cobra, who could literally hear what his opponents were thinking, and Racer, who could mess with people's sense of time, found themselves completely helpless against the sheer speed and power of the lightning.
Cobra was the first to pay the price. He was the one who had poisoned the Thunder Legion, so Laxus had him at the top of his "To-Do" list.
Cobra smirked confidently. "Useless. I can hear your every move!"
'It's a right hook! Move—'
BAM!
"Guh—!"
Even if Cobra could hear the punch coming, his body couldn't keep up with the speed of light. Laxus's fist slammed into him like a freight train, sending him flying!
"Shut your trap! You're annoying!"
Next up was Racer. Maybe it was his cocky attitude or just his face, but Laxus found him incredibly irritating.
'Heh! You think you're faster than—'
BAM!
Time-warping magic has its limits. In another timeline, this guy couldn't even dodge Gray's arrows—he stood zero chance against Laxus. A heavy left hook sent him spiraling into the dirt.
"Gah—!!"
You don't outrun a lightning bolt. Period.
"Were you trying to say something 'cool' just now?" Laxus scoffed.
Hoteye actually managed to react in time. He instantly liquified the ground, surrounding himself with a swirling wall of mud for defense. "Wealth knows no hierarchy—"
BAM!
The golden lightning shredded through the mud wall like it was wet tissue paper, striking Hoteye directly. He was fried to a crisp instantly, his long wavy hair smoking as he collapsed into a heap.
"Your voice reminds me of a guy who really pisses me off!"
With three of her teammates down in seconds, Angel panicked. Her eyes went wide with terror as Laxus turned toward her. "Wait... hold on..."
Unfortunately for her, Laxus wasn't the "ladies first" type when it came to a brawl. He didn't pull his punches.
BAM!
"Eek—!"
Chivalry? That word wasn't in Laxus's dictionary. He sent her straight to the sidelines to join the others.
He spun around again, his lightning-clad fist connecting squarely with Midnight's jaw, sending him airborne!
BAM!
"Gugh—!"
Space-warping doesn't do much if someone punches you before you can blink.
"That's five!"
For the grand finale, Laxus lined up his sights on Brain.
Brain was staring in total shock, his brain failing to process the slaughter he had just witnessed. All he could do was watch as Laxus's lightning fist grew larger and larger in his field of vision.
BOOM!
Recognizing this guy as the boss, Laxus put a little extra "oomph" into the strike. His fist connected along with a massive pillar of golden lightning, blasting Brain back dozens of yards and carving a two-meter-wide scorched trench into the earth.
Six seconds. Six people. Total annihilation.
No one had ever seen the Oración Seis get "schooled" like this. Cobra and Racer, who were still semi-conscious, were paralyzed with fear. It felt like a nightmare, but the agonizing pain throughout their bodies told them it was very, very real.
"No way..."
"How... how can anyone be this strong...?"
Even the Allied Forces were stunned. They stood there like a bunch of gaping fish, collectively sucking the oxygen out of the area. "Holy crap..."
The dozen of them had struggled for two rounds just to stay even with four enemies. Then Laxus shows up and mops up the whole squad in six seconds flat. The power gap was wide enough to fit a galaxy.
The mages from the other guilds were breaking out in cold sweats.
Lyon couldn't help but lean over to Gray. "Is this guy the top dog in your guild?"
Gray: "..."
Since you asked, I guess I have to spill the beans.
"You know how our guild held that 'Magic Tournament' recently?" Gray asked.
Lyon thought for a second and nodded. "I heard something about it. Was he the champion?"
Gray fought back a smirk. "Nope. He didn't even make the Sweet Sixteen. For the record, I made the Elite Eight before getting knocked out by Kira—and Kira went all the way to win the whole thing."
Translation: I'm only an Elite Eight finisher because the competition was insane!
Lyon blinked. "Wait, what about Erza?"
Natsu overheard them and chimed in with a cheeky grin. "Erza only made the Sweet Sixteen too! But hey, I made the Final Four!"
Lyon stared at them, deadpan. Are you guys pulling my leg? Is that tournament just a joke?
It wasn't just Lyon; everyone else had the same "are you kidding me?" look on their faces. They all exchanged glances that said: No wonder they say Fairy Tail is a circus.
Laxus had just leveled the playing field, but he wasn't satisfied yet. He turned his eyes toward Jellal.
"So you're Jellal? Man, you really are a dead ringer for Mystogan. Perfect. I missed my chance to fight him at the tournament, so I'll just settle for kicking your ass instead!"
As a former member of the Magic Council, Jellal knew a bit about Edolas. Combined with the intel he'd gathered on Fairy Tail, he knew exactly what Laxus was getting at.
In fact, after the Weekly Sorcerer magazine had done a massive spread on the "Fairy Tail Magic Tournament," the news about Edolas had leaked to most of the magic world. After all, having a guy who looked exactly like Kira—Dispel—acting as the MC made it pretty hard to miss.
And the Fairy Tail crew hadn't exactly been secretive about Mystogan's origins. Between Council spies and high-level gossip, most people "in the know" were aware he was the Edolas version of Jellal.
Laxus continued, "I heard Kira dumped you in the ocean last time? Guess you crawled back out. Guess he isn't as tough as he thinks he is!"
Jellal opened his mouth to snap back, but the roar of a magic-mobile engine cut him off from the nearby woods. Along with the engine came a voice—teasing, playful, and completely irreverent.
"Talking smack behind someone's back? That's not very 'noble wizard' of you, Laxus!"
That voice was unmistakable. Every single person there—including Ultear, who was still lurking in the shadows—felt their faces darken. They all had "fond" memories of being the butt of this guy's jokes.
VROOM—SKREEE!
Kira tore out of the woods on his magic-bike. He yanked the handlebars, performing a flashy power-slide that left a charred rubber mark on the ground.
"The hero has arrived!!"
Suddenly, his front tire hit a stray rock with a loud clack. The bike buckled, and Kira went flying off the seat, spinning through the air like a ragdoll straight toward the Allied Forces!
"Whoops! My bad!"