Chapter 149: I'll Teach You
Jellal, his magic power fully restored and his eyes burning with a zealot's fury, assumed a casting stance. The air in the throne room crackled with immense, gathering energy.
Seven golden orbs of light materialized in the air behind him, linked together by golden chains of light. They arranged themselves into a familiar constellation: the Big Dipper.
"You have ruined eight years of my work, Ren!" Jellal roared, his voice no longer calm or mocking, but filled with divine rage. "Now, receive the judgment of the Seven Stars!"
"Grand Chariot!!"
As Jellal roared, the seven orbs of light blazed as bright as suns. Seven massive magical light pillars shot out, not from the sky, but from the orbs themselves, converging on Ren's position with terrifying speed.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The seven light pillars struck the ground where Ren stood, erupting in a catastrophic, simultaneous explosion. The destructive power was terrifying, piercing straight through the crystal floor of the throne room and shattering several floors below. The entire top of the tower was enveloped in a cloud of smoke and pulverized crystal.
"REN—!!!"
Erza, who had been thrown back by the sheer force of the magic, screamed, her voice filled with immediate, heart-stopping panic.
"Hahahahaha! What an idiot!!" Jellal panted, his arms still outstretched as he hovered in the air. "This is magic comparable to the destructive power of a real meteor! That bastard... he must have been annihilated! Hahahahaha!!" He laughed, a wild, triumphant sound.
"Hey, hey, hey..."
A casual, unbothered voice came from within the thick, billowing smoke.
"Don't just declare someone dead on your own. It's rude."
The smoke began to disperse. Ren appeared, standing in the exact same spot, in the center of a newly-formed, seven-pronged crater. He was completely unharmed. However, at this moment, he had once again assumed his Gojo Satoru form, complete with the black blindfold and spiky white hair.
"Ren!"
Seeing Ren unharmed, Erza breathed a sigh of relief, her legs almost giving out. She knew that while Ren seemed incredibly audacious, every action he took was always calculated... yet his actions still made her heart pound.
Jellal's laughter died in his throat, his eyes widening in disbelief. "Impossible! That was Grand Chariot! My ultimate Heavenly Body Magic! It's impossible for you to be unharmed after being hit by it!!"
"Yes! I'll give you that, the magic's power was not weak," Ren said, cracking his neck. "But it's a pity... you didn't hit me."
"Impossible!" Jellal roared, descending to the floor. "I saw Grand Chariot hit you with my own eyes! I am absolutely certain of it!"
"No, Jellal-kun," Ren said, wagging his finger in a taunting gesture. "What you touched was the 'Infinity' between you and me."
Jellal's eyes narrowed slightly. "What do you mean?"
Ren raised his right hand, palm open. "Come," he said with a smile. "Stretch out your hand. I'll teach you."
Jellal stared at him, suspicious. He felt no killing intent from Ren. But he was also desperate to know what this 'invincibility' magic was. He landed in front of Ren, his own magic coiled and ready to strike.
He stretched his palm out towards Ren's palm.
And then... his hand stopped.
As soon as he reached the vicinity of Ren's palm, Jellal's hand involuntarily stopped, hovering an inch away.
Jellal was confused. He pushed. His hand... wouldn't... move. He was so close, but he just couldn't touch Ren's palm. 'Is this the 'Infinity' he mentioned?'
"Hmm… it's not exactly stopping," Ren explained, as if to a student. "It's more like... the closer you get to me, the slower you become. See? This is the 'Infinity'. What's between you and me. What should we do next? I could just hold your hand like this, you know."
And then, Ren closed the distance himself, his fingers touching Jellal's palm.
"No—!!" Jellal yelled, trying to pull his hand back, but Ren's grip was instant.
"Don't be shy," Ren grinned. "You're making me feel awkward, too."
As Ren spoke, he intertwined his fingers with Jellal's, holding him in a firm grip.
Jellal's eyes widened in panic. 'It's a trap!'
He tried to blast Ren with magic, but it was too late.
Ren clenched his left fist, which was crackling with dark Cursed Energy, and swiftly delivered a brutal punch to Jellal's abdomen.
"Ugh!"
Jellal's body bent like a shrimp. He felt the punch, not as a normal strike, but as a heavy, soul-crushing impact.
Following that, Ren, still holding Jellal's hand, continuously threw straight punches into his gut.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Ugh!" "Gah!" "Hrk!"
Jellal's body was constantly attacked, each punch containing powerful Cursed Energy, each one heavy with force.
"You bastard! Meteor!!"
Jellal, in a desperate move, emitted a strong yellow light, forcing Ren to release his hand as the magic flared. Jellal's body rocketed backward, and he quickly retreated to the far side of the room.
"Six Star!"
Jellal, now furious and disheveled, waved his hand, releasing six rapidly flying star-like projectiles. Each one was a miniature Grand Chariot, and each hit would cause a powerful, destructive explosion.
Ren stood there motionless. He merely raised his hand, his index and middle fingers together, increasing the release of Cursed Energy to reinforce his Infinity.
Whoosh—!
The Six Star projectiles screamed across the room... and came to an emergency halt in front of Ren, hovering in the air. Then, as if they had hit an invisible, curved wall, they were all bounced away, ricocheting in random directions.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Six Star projectiles, now out of Jellal's control, slammed into the massive, delicate lacrima crystals at the top of the throne room. These were the "receiving crystals," built to absorb and convert the Etherion blast. The powerful destructive force shattered them. The massive crystals fractured, groaned, and then began to crash down, directly towards Ren.
"Ren, watch out!!" Erza immediately shouted a warning.
Ren just raised his palm. The falling, multi-ton giant crystal immediately stopped in mid-air, caught by his Cursed Technique.
Then, Ren waved his palm towards Jellal. The giant crystal, now propelled by an invisible force, shot towards Jellal like a cannonball.
"Meteor!!"
Jellal, cursing, was forced to quickly dodge.
Crack—!
The giant crystal smashed into and broke another receiving crystal, and both massive, priceless structures fell from the Tower of Paradise, plummeting into the sea below.
"You... bastard!!"
Jellal's face was extremely grim. This was his eight years of hard work! His perfect machine! And this... this bastard... was destroying it with a smile on his face!
Ren raised his hand. "Ah! My apologies! I didn't think you'd dodge."
"Nine Star!"
Jellal had no intention of wasting more words. Nine stars, in a straight line, launched a carpet-bombing run towards Ren, the power far greater than Six Star.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The entire floor erupted.
Whoosh!
Ren rushed out from the center of the explosion. Blocking that level of magic would consume a lot of Cursed Energy. He didn't have Gojo Satoru's "almost inexhaustible" Cursed Energy from the Six Eyes; his was converted from his own magic power, and every bit consumed was one less.
He had to end this.
At this moment, Jellal, seeing Ren finally move, finally dodge, let out a triumphant laugh. 'He's running low!'
He raised his arms high, crossing them, and a massive, terrifying amount of dark magic power emanated from his body.
A celestial body, resembling a small, swirling black hole, appeared above Jellal's palms.
The surrounding debris was sucked into it and instantly annihilated. This black hole, generated by his ultimate magic, could suck everything into an endless darkness and destroy it.
Erza was greatly astonished, her eyes wide with terror. "The... the shadow... it's actually extending in reverse, opposite to the light source?! Ren, be careful! Don't touch that magic!!"
Ren, however, just gave Erza a thumbs-up. "Don't worry! While I'm arrogant, I'm not an idiot! This thing clearly looks very dangerous..."
"...but fortunately, I also have a cursed technique that's just as dangerous."
Ren brought his hands together, and a brilliant, spinning blue energy sphere began to gather in his palms.
"Cursed Technique Reversal... Maximum Output..."
"Blue!!"
In an instant, Ren was also holding up a giant, swirling blue sphere with both hands.
"Fall into the endless abyss of darkness!!"
"Heavenly Body Magic, Abyss Break!!"
Jellal launched the black hole-like celestial body towards Ren.
Ren, grinning, also shot the Blue in his hands towards Jellal.
Wherever the two massive spheres passed, the crystal floor was instantly devoured as if gnawed away.
In a blink of an eye, the two spheres, one black and one blue, collided in the center of the room. Both used endless suction as their attack method, and the two spheres refused to yield, constantly trying to devour each other.
Originally, Ren thought either his Blue would devour Jellal's magic, or Jellal's magic would devour his.
Suddenly, the two spheres, which were originally at odds, merged. They became a single, horrifying, black-and-blue sphere, pulsing with unstable energy.
Then, this sphere rapidly compressed, instantly shrinking to the size of a thumb. The high-density, unstable energy made the entire tower, the entire island, shiver with dread.
"Not good!" Ren yelled, his casual demeanor gone.
He instantly appeared at Erza's side, grabbed her, and teleported them both to the lowest floor of the tower. Jellal also realized something was wrong and accelerated with Meteor to fly far, far away.
"Om—————!!"
In the very next second, the shrunken sphere suddenly expanded, instantly becoming the size of an island.
Whoosh—————!
There was no sound. There was no explosion. There was only... light.
The next instant, the sphere vanished.
And along with it, the entire top half of the Tower of Paradise... also vanished.
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