Chapter 138: A Simple Greeting
"Crush... crush it?!"
Simon's voice was strained with disbelief. He stared at Ren as if he were insane, then gestured frantically toward the towering, crystalline structure that dominated the horizon. "Ren-san, you don't understand! The island is guarded by an extremely large number of troops!"
He knew this better than anyone. He had been one of them until today. "Jellal has stationed a vast army on the Tower of Heaven, numbering in the thousands. Most of them are former soldiers from dark guilds, ruthless mercenaries, and fanatics loyal only to Zeref. With so many people, even if you punched them one by one, it would take a lifetime and you'd die of exhaustion!"
"That's right! We should just crush them!" Gray, however, stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. He strongly agreed with Ren's suggestion. He had no patience for sneaking around.
Erza's eyes flashed, her armor glinting in the sun. She drew her sword, the sound of steel a sharp counterpoint to the crashing waves. She nodded, her gaze fixed on the tower that had haunted her nightmares for eight long years. "Then let's do it! Eight years ago, we overthrew the rule of the Black Magic Cult with our own hands. Today, we will completely overthrow Jellal!"
"Erza?!" Simon hadn't expected her personality to change so much. "Are you so... radical now?"
"That guy hurt Erza!" Lucy declared, her own fear replaced by a righteous, protective anger. "And now he even wants to abduct her as a sacrifice! We should let a guy like that know what we're capable of!"
She was also feeling surprisingly brave. On one hand, she was furious about the plight of Erza, Simon, and the others. On the other hand... she glanced at Ren, who was calmly staring at the tower, his hands in his pockets. There were many powerful individuals in this operation.
She had Ren, a monster who could defeat a Ten Wizard Saint and who had a proven, if terrifying, record of fighting one against ten thousand. How many people could this tower even hold? Besides Ren, there were Erza, Natsu, and Gray, plus herself. Such a team was almost invincible. And with Juvia and Erza's old friends helping, they had nothing to fear.
Soon, the small boat grated against the island's sandy beach.
"So tall—!"
As they got closer, standing at its base and craning their necks back, everyone realized the tower was even taller than they had imagined. It seemed to pierce the very sky, a monument of dark crystal and despair.
"After all, it took a full eight years," Sho said bitterly, clenching his fists. He now wished he could destroy this tall tower with his own hands. Not long ago, he had been proud of building it, but now it had completely become a pillar of shame, a testament to eight years of his life spent believing a lie.
"So many people!!" As Lucy stepped onto the beach, her bravado faltered. She saw them. Hundreds of guards, clad in black armor, patrolling the base of the tower. Banners with Jellal's crest snapped in the wind. She couldn't help but feel a little intimidated.
"I already told you," Simon said, his deep voice grim as he stepped onto the sand beside her.
Natsu and Gray didn't wait for a plan. They had already jumped off the ship.
"Who are you—?!" The guards on the shore spotted them and immediately sounded the alarm, their voices sharp.
Natsu's face was ferocious, his fists already wreathed in flames. "You dare ask who we are?! You don't even recognize such superior opponents!! We are Fairy Tail! You scoundrels!!"
With that roar, he charged straight in.
"Uwaaaaah!!" A large number of guards screamed as they were sent flying, engulfed in Natsu's fiery assault.
"Enemy attack—!!" Horns blared from the tower. The other guards immediately shouted, and hundreds more began to pour from the tower's gates, rushing over from all directions.
"Ice-Make: Lancer!!!" Gray was right behind him, slamming his palms together. He released his Molding Magic, shooting out a large number of sharp, glittering ice lances that rained down on the charging soldiers.
"Waaahhh!!" Again, a large number of guards were taken down, frozen or impaled.
Juvia clapped her hands, her face full of adoration as she watched Gray fight. "Master Gray is so cool!! Juvia must do her best too!!"
"Water Slicer!!" Juvia waved her hand, releasing a barrage of high-pressure water blades that slashed cleanly through the guards' armor.
"Uwaaahhh!!" A large number of guards were dealt with.
"Amazing—!!" Sho, Wally, Millianna, and Simon, who had landed on the beach behind them, were all incredibly amazed by this scene.
Initially, they thought Natsu and the others weren't very strong, especially after Ren had handled them so easily in the casino. But after seeing the destructive power of their magic, they realized how incredibly powerful these individuals were.
These weren't just a few mages. This was a force of nature. So many guards, all of them trained, were as fragile as paper under the attacks of these few people. They somewhat understood what Ren meant by "crushing them."
"I'm going in too!" "Open, Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!!" Seeing everyone else performing, Lucy naturally couldn't fall behind. She took out her golden key and summoned Taurus.
"Moo—!" A giant, humanoid cow with an axe appeared, then swung its large axe and fought with the guards. Although it was pretty much one hit, one kill, its performance was far inferior compared to the elemental chaos unleashed by the others.
Millianna, dodging a stray spell, complained, "...So ordinary... meow..."
Wally also nodded in agreement, his blocky arms crossed. "Yeah! A bit ordinary!"
Lucy, hearing this, was furious and bared her teeth. "I'll become super strong too in the future!"
At the same time, Lucy thought to herself: You guys are really talking without knowing the struggle. You don't even consider what kind of monsters these people are! Natsu is the legendary Fire Dragon Slayer, Juvia is one of Phantom Lord's Element 4, and while Gray's reputation isn't huge, he's a guy who can barely go toe-to-toe with Natsu. My performance is already very good, okay?!
"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!!"
At this moment, Erza joined the fray. She requipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor, a suit of gleaming steel armor with four massive steel wings on her back. She flew into the air, like a steel angel, looking both beautiful and fierce.
"Heaven's Wheel: Bladeworks!!"
[Akarin's Note: "Bladeworks" seems to be a fanfiction-specific name for this attack, which is visually similar to her Circle Sword or Blumenblatt techniques, summoning a large number of swords.]
Erza summoned a large number of magical swords, a hundred blades gleaming in the sun, and shot them down at the guards like a rain of steel.
"Uwaaahhh!!" A large number of guards were all taken down, pinned to the ground.
Sho and the others were deeply moved by this scene. It was just like that day, eight years ago, when they were on the verge of despair. It was Erza who awakened her Magic, controlling a multitude of weapons, and defeated the Black Magic Cult's magical soldiers, leading them to victory.
They had actually doubted Erza's loyalty because of Jellal's words. How despicable they had been.
Ren stepped off the ship and onto the island. Looking at the tall, crystalline structure, he remembered the pain in Erza's voice, the eight years she had endured because of this place. That memory fueled a strong, cold urge to destroy it.
"Full-Body Take Over: Edward Newgate!!"
Ren's body began to rapidly grow taller and larger. His clothes transformed into a white coat, and he held Whitebeard's exclusive weapon, Murakumogiri, one of the Twelve Supreme Grade Swords. Most noticeably, a massive, crescent-shaped white mustache curved upwards from beneath his nose.
"So big—!!"
Millianna and the others had lived on this island their entire lives and had never seen such a tall human. They were all shocked to see Ren transform into such a giant man, easily rivaling the height of a small building.
Ren looked up at the Tower of Heaven. Such a tall, imposing building... it made him feel as if he was recalling his memories of Marineford.
"Looking at it just annoys me!"
Ren's lips curled slightly as he softly said, "Since I'm here, I might as well say hello first."
He planted his feet in the sand.
He gripped the empty air with all ten fingers, his knuckles cracking. He pulled his fists back as if grabbing the very fabric of the world.
Crack!
The air in front of him shattered like a pane of glass.
Rumble—!!
The earth began to shake. The entire island started to tilt violently, and the sea around it began to split, the water pulling back to form massive, churning cliffs hundreds of meters high.
"This... this... what is this—?!"
Everyone—friend and foe alike—was dumbfounded, thrown from their feet by the sheer, world-breaking power.
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