"It looks scary," the Dark Magician Girl said confidently, resting her staff on her shoulder as she floated in midair. "But it's really no big deal."
She looked down at the young girl trembling in her arms and gave her a proud smile, puffing out her chest. With a wink, she flashed a playful scissors gesture.
"Don't worry, little one. I'll take care of this monster in no time."
But before she could finish reassuring the child, a dark shadow engulfed them.
Her eyes widened.
The giant palm previously obliterated had already reformed, condensed anew from the magic-infused void.
Boom!!
With a deafening crash, the palm came crashing down.
The explosion sent the Dark Magician Girl flying like a comet. She crashed through the air and smashed into the dense forest just outside the ruins, the force of impact blasting up a massive cloud of dust and broken trees.
"Dark Magician Girl!!"
Mira's heart sank. She screamed her name and sprinted through the chaos, ignoring the crumbling debris and fleeing crowd.
She raced toward the impact zone, fear and urgency in every step.
Then
A soft hum of magic resonated from within the smoke.
A pink, shimmering barrier of magic burst outward, parting the dust like a wave.
Inside the crater, standing tall and proud despite the destruction around her, was the Dark Magician Girl.
Her long golden hair fluttered gently in the wind, her eyes focused and unshaken.
She held the little girl safely in her arms completely unharmed.
The trees had been leveled. The ground was cracked and scorched. But she stood in the center of it all like a shining protector.
"I'm okay, Sister Mira," she said with a playful grin, though her tone was serious.
"Compared to that Salamander guy, this attack barely tickled."
Mira stopped in her tracks, stunned but deeply relieved.
Then the Dark Magician Girl turned to face the towering demon once again, her eyes fierce.
"Sister Mira, take the others and get out of here."
"I'll hold off the ugly giant."
The Dark Magician Girl gently passed the little girl into Mira's arms, her bright eyes now shadowed with growing seriousness.
From that single exchange just moments ago, she had felt it clearly.
The magic buried inside the Drum of the Void was monstrous oppressive and ancient. It wasn't something she could take lightly.
This wasn't going to be an easy fight.
Not without him.
In a real battle, her master Chase could channel enormous amounts of magic to keep card spirits like her fighting freely in this world. With his support, they could move, attack, and even unleash their full potential without limits.
But now?
Without his presence, she could only rely on the magic power she currently held.
And once that ran out…
She would be forcibly pulled back into the deck, just like the Celestial Spirits when a summoner's energy runs dry.
She knew the risks.
That was why she had made her decision.
Her role was simple hold the demon back.
Delay it for as long as she could.
Buy enough time for Sister Mira, and for all the innocent people on this island, to escape safely.
"Be very careful," Mira said quietly, looking her in the eyes.
She didn't try to argue.
She didn't waste time with hesitation.
Clutching the child tightly, she turned and ran toward the beach where the magic ship was docked toward safety.
That was all she could do now. She had no magic left for battle, but she could still protect lives.
That, too, was the pride of a Fairy Tail wizard.
The Dark Magician Girl watched her go.
Then, slowly, her gaze turned back toward the demon.
Her expression darkened.
"First you ruin the island… then you ruin the only free time I had with Sister Mira."
A small sigh escaped her lips.
She gripped her staff tightly with both hands.
"All right, big guy. Get ready to face judgment from the one and only genius girl of magic!"
Whoosh!
A surge of pink wind burst beneath her feet.
The air around her exploded with radiant magic energy.
Her elegant robe fluttered wildly as she crouched, bent her knees
And then shot into the sky like a streak of rose-colored lightning.
The Dark Magician Girl streaked through the air like a comet, her speed dazzling.
She zipped around the towering body of the Drum of the Void, darting left, then right, weaving unpredictable loops through the sky.
And every time she passed by
Boom!
She unleashed a focused blast of magical energy.
Wave after wave of pink and violet light struck the demon's massive frame, exploding on contact and sending shockwaves rippling across the island.
The remnant body, still drawing magic from the dozens of captive wizards below, quickly regenerated the damage dealt to its rocky exterior. Cracks sealed. Shattered fragments reformed.
But speed was its weakness.
Lumbering and sluggish, the remnant of Hollow Drum couldn't react fast enough to catch her. Its huge limbs swatted at the sky again and again, but the Black Magician Girl danced just out of reach each time.
Multiple capture attempts failed.
Inside the construct's core at the center of its massive chest Marshall was fused to the altar, only his twisted, sneering face still visible above the stone.
His bloodshot eyes twitched with fury.
His teeth ground together with pure rage.
That girl…!
The resurrection was incomplete.
Until the ritual was finished, until the sacrifices were taken, this body was nothing more than a shell. A puppet of magic power.
It couldn't cast spells.
It couldn't fly.
It was barely more than a projection, a silhouette stitched together by sheer force of magic.
It looked real but it wasn't.
Marshall had planned everything.
Slaughter the tourists. Offer their souls to fulfill the third condition.
Then use the death of Chase or some high-level Council wizard as the final fuel source to perfect the revival of Hollow Drum.
Then finally he would transcend.
Become more than a man.
Become a god.
But now
This girl had disrupted everything.
If too many of the sacrifices escaped, the spell would collapse.
And once the Council arrived in full force, they wouldn't give this unstable, half-formed body time to breathe.
It would be over.
Marshall's entire dream would be crushed before it could take shape.
He hissed through clenched teeth.
Fine.
I anticipated this possibility.
An unexpected disruption… a delay… a resistance.
That's why I made preparations in advance.
A cruel gleam flashed in Marshall's twisted, bloodshot eyes.
Fused into the altar at the heart of the Drum of the Void, his exposed face slowly turned toward the circle of black-robed followers gathered around him.
The believers, completely unaware of what was about to happen, were lost in their own feverish celebration.
They cheered wildly, eyes alight with madness, drunk on the belief that the Eighteen Battle Gods of Evil would soon awaken in full power.
They imagined a future where they would crush the Guilds of Light, destroy the Magic Council, and rise to rule the new world.
In their minds, they were already chosen saints blessed followers of "God."
"Lord Marshall!" one of them cried out, rushing over with a bright, hopeful face. "How's the situation outside? The sacrifices must be gathered by now, right? Soon the great one will descend, yes?"
The man grinned until he met Marshall's eyes.
The raw viciousness there made his smile freeze.
And then
Bang!
The believer exploded.
A flash of red, a wet burst of sound, and the man was gone reduced to nothing but a fine crimson mist.
The blood was instantly drawn into the glowing altar beneath Marshall's fused form, seeping into the runes with a sickening hiss.
The room went silent.
The other cultists stared in horror, their minds unable to process what had just happened.
And then panic.
"No! No, please!"
"Master Marshall, you can't! You promised !"
But by the time they realized, it was already too late.
Their bodies began to swell, expanding grotesquely, glowing red from within.
One by one, they burst into clouds of blood and vapor.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
The ritual stone hungrily absorbed each misty soul, the energy spiking with every death.
Marshall chuckled darkly, his voice echoing through the chamber with unholy calm.
"Relax, everyone."
"To lay down your lives for the coming of God what greater honor could there be?"
Outside.
The giant form of the Drum of the Void suddenly reared its head and let out a deafening roar, its voice like a thousand cries folded into one.
Whooooom!!
A terrifying magic storm erupted around it, pulsing outward in waves that bent the air and shook the skies.
The Dark Magician Girl was forced back, her body trembling midair as she struggled to hold her position against the blast of raw power.
Then, the transformation began.
The rocky surface that had encased the demon's body started to crumble slabs of stone shedding and falling away.
From underneath, something monstrous emerged.
Like an insect molting, the ancient shell gave way to sinewy layers of skeletal muscle and grotesque dark skin, slick with energy.
Long strands of tangled hair sprouted wildly from its scalp.
Scarlet eyes opened, bloodshot and menacing.
It exhaled from its malformed nose, sending gouts of steaming vapor into the air.
Its jagged fangs clacked together inside a grinning mouth that seemed too wide for its skull.
And then
BOOM!
With a final stomp, the transformation was complete.
The roar died down.
And standing before the Dark Magician Girl was no longer a crumbling ruin but a fully formed, colossal humanoid clad in tattered ancient armor, radiating pressure like a mountain ready to fall.
The sky darkened.
Magic trembled.
"I see now…" the Dark Magician Girl muttered, floating in midair as she stared at the terrifying figure.
"So this is your real form?"
She narrowed her eyes, gripping her staff tighter.
"The Eighteen Battle Gods of Evil sure are ugly. You're even worse-looking than that overgrown fire lizard."
She tried to keep her tone steady, but the gravity of the threat in front of her was clear in her voice.
A chilling chant echoed back in response.
"Iragud, Ne… Will..."
It was an ancient language, impossible to understand but brimming with ancient malice.
Then Marshall now fully fused with the Drum of the Void slowly lifted one hand.
He snapped his fingers.
Crack!
In an instant, a swirling space vortex exploded outward, surging with distorted power.
The magical barrier the Dark Magician Girl had erected was shattered like glass disintegrated by the vortex's crushing pressure.
Her eyes widened.
She had no time to recover.
Amid the scattering shards of her shattered barrier, the Dark Magician Girl was sent hurtling through the sky.
Her staff slipped from her hands as her body tumbled like a broken star.
Boom!!
She crashed into a distant hill with terrifying force, the resulting explosion lighting up the island like a magical flare.
The shockwave flattened the landscape.
The entire hilltop was obliterated, reduced to rubble in an instant.
But Marshall did not pursue.
His massive form remained still towering, calculating.
His glowing scarlet eyes shifted ever so slightly.
And in that instant, they pierced across the island locking onto a distant figure.
Mira.
She stood near the shore, guiding the final group of frightened tourists onto the magic-powered boat, her voice calm but firm amid the chaos.
Marshall's voice rumbled low with twisted delight.
"…I didn't expect that…"
"That white-haired woman… she's hiding that much magical power within her?"
A grin spread across his jagged mouth.
"Ha… haha… I'm really lucky. Seems I won't need to wait for Chase to come to me after all…"
Now fused fully with the Drum of the Void, Marshall's perception had reached a terrifying level.
He could feel it.
Beneath Mira's gentle and composed surface there was something vast.
Something powerful.
Something perfect.
Driven by the desire for completeness, he extended one colossal hand.
"Let me have it."
Whoosh!
A spiraling dark green chaotic vortex erupted from his palm, tearing through the air like a storm of twisted space.
The energy twisted the very atmosphere as it surged forward, heading straight for the coast.
Straight for Mira.
She felt it.
Her instincts flared.
She turned her head sharply only to see the vortex right in front of her, expanding rapidly, filling her entire vision.
Time seemed to freeze.
There was no time to react.
And then
Whoosh!
A streak of pink light shot in from the sky.
A familiar, determined figure crashed in like a comet, putting herself between Mira and the vortex at the last possible second.
The Dark Magician Girl stood firm, staff in both hands, facing the devouring chaos vortex without hesitation.
"Seal Barrier Full Release!!"
A brilliant pink light burst from her magic staff, forming a powerful curtain of light that clashed violently with the incoming green vortex.
BOOM!!!
The impact sent violent shockwaves racing across the shoreline.
The beach was torn open on both sides, sand lifting like tidal waves.
The magic boat at the dock shook wildly, nearly tipping as panicked tourists clung to the railings, screams drowned out by the explosive roar.
Mira stood just behind her.
Pale. Trembling.
Not from fear of the enemy's overwhelming magic.
But because she saw it happening again.
The pink light was fading.
The Dark Magician Girl's figure was becoming translucent, her robes shredded by the vortex's force, bits of magical cloth scattering like petals in a storm.
Even though Mira knew knew that Chase's summoned monsters wouldn't truly die… that they'd just return to the card…
Her heart still clenched in pain.
Because it was too much like that night
The night she lost her sister.
The memory she buried deep within her soul.
The nightmare she never wanted to relive.
"…Sister Mira."
The girl's voice was soft, carried on the howling wind.
She turned slightly, smiling through the pain, her golden hair whipping across her bruised face.
"Don't worry, okay… I can feel it clearly… Lord Chase is already…"
CRACK!
The magic barrier shattered.
The chaos vortex swallowed everything.
The violent blast tore through the battlefield.
Mira and the Black Magician Girl were flung into the sky like falling stars, silhouettes consumed by the storm.
The beach went still.
The boat rocked.
The monster laughed.
And Mira somewhere in midair was falling with her heart torn wide open.
What followed after the explosion was a freefall that could only be described as despair.
The sky spun.
The clouds blurred.
The ground rushed up to meet her like a merciless tide.
Mira didn't scream.
Instead, she closed her eyes gently.
Her silver-white hair floated in the wind, her serene expression soft and calm almost peaceful.
Because she knew.
She felt it.
The warmth brushing across her skin.
The pull of a familiar presence slicing through the chaos like a blade of light.
He's here.
The one she trusted more than anyone.
The one who always came when she needed him most.
On the magic boat, time seemed to freeze.
The weekly editor clutched the railing with trembling fingers, heart pounding, eyes squeezed shut in dread.
But after several seconds passed, there was no crash, no scream, no storm of debris.
Just wind.
He opened his eyes.
And gasped.
There, standing at the heart of the ruined beach
A tall man, cape flaring against the hurricane winds.
In one arm, he held the tattered yet smiling Dark Magician Girl, her energy faint but stable.
In the other, he carried Mira, nestled safely against his side, her expression still calm as if dreaming.
His dark blue eyes were sharp as blades.
His coat embroidered with arcane runes flapped behind him like the wings of a dragon returning from the heavens.
The storm bowed before him.
The earth held its breath.
"…Mr. Chase…?"
The weekly editor blinked.
Then a smile broke across his face.
He pumped his fists in the air, voice cracking with awe and relief.
"COOL!!!"
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