Chapter 401: Special Medicine, X-Balls
"This year was absolutely spectacular! After an incredibly cool race, we finally have a super cool conclusion! In dead last, we have Natsu, Gajeel, Gray, and Jet—all four of them! The victims of the Punishment Game have been decided!" Jason announced at the top of his lungs.
"WHAT?!"
Natsu and the others turned pale with absolute horror. They thought only one person would come in last, but somehow, all four of them had managed to tie for the bottom spot.
"Hehehe! Are you brats ready to face your doom?" Makarov's face wrinkled into a massive, sadistic grin.
"You've gotta be kidding me, Grandpa!" Natsu screamed.
"Master, at least give us a loser's redemption bracket or something!" Gray pleaded loudly.
"Absolutely not. Don't even try it," Makarov firmly rejected the idea. "As mages, this is exactly like taking on a job request. There are no do-overs."
After delivering that righteous lecture, his face immediately morphed back into a devious smirk. He held up four fingers. "Just accept the Punishment Game obediently, you four!"
The surrounding crowd watched in utter silence, waiting to see how Natsu and the other losers would react.
"Fine, we get it! Just bring it on!" Realizing there was no escape, Natsu jumped directly in front of Makarov. "Spit it out. What's the punishment?!"
Even though he tried to act tough, his voice was violently trembling. He was genuinely terrified of whatever twisted game the Master had cooked up.
Gray, Gajeel, and Jet nervously glued their eyes to Makarov, bracing for impact.
"Oho! Your resolve is commendable! In that case, allow me to unveil this year's Punishment Game!" Makarov declared dramatically. With a wicked laugh, he reached behind his back and whipped out a magazine. "It's this!"
"Sorcerer Weekly?!" Natsu and the others gasped.
"What about it?" Gajeel asked, raising a confused eyebrow.
Hearing the question, Makarov's smug grin widened to a terrifying degree. "You four are going to be featured in the issue of Sorcerer Weekly releasing the week after next. It will contain incredibly embarrassing, humiliating illustrations of all of you. A super deluxe twenty-page spread, accompanied by a full week of stalker-like interviews!"
"WHAT!!!" Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, and Jet shrieked in unison, their faces twisting in pure, unadulterated terror. This Punishment Game was quite literally a fate worse than death.
"Embarrassing illustrations...?" Lucy muttered, tilting her head in confusion.
"I will buy one copy for preservation, one for reading, and a backup for my backup, Gray-sama," Juvia sighed, cupping her cheeks with an expression of pure, intoxicating bliss.
"DO NOT BUY THAT!" Gray roared, his face flushing violently red as he yelled at the Water Mage.
Natsu and the others stood frozen in shock, completely unsure of how to handle this nightmare.
"And there you have it, folks! Now then, you four, let's go pick out some outfits!" Jason cheered excitedly, rushing over to them.
BOOM!
Without warning, a massive cloud of dust exploded into the air, completely obscuring the area.
By the time Jason waved the dirt out of his face, Natsu and the other three were already gone.
"Wait up!" Jason yelled, immediately giving chase.
"Like hell we're waiting!" The frantic screams of the four losers echoed from the distance as they ran for their lives, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.
"Hold on! This is so cool!" Jason refused to give up the scoop and sprinted after them.
"They can still run after all that?" Lucy sighed, watching the chaotic scene unfold. Her own legs felt like absolute jelly, utterly devoid of strength.
"They truly possess a boundless reserve of stamina. As expected of them," Erza nodded in serious admiration.
"Is that really the takeaway here?" Lucy couldn't help but deadpan.
"Gray-sama's illustrations..." Juvia whimpered, completely heartbroken that her prize had run away.
"Incredibly embarrassing illustrations, huh..." Sorano muttered, a mischievous glint in her eye as she slowly turned to look at Noah. Ultear and the other women immediately followed her gaze, staring at him expectantly.
Noah rolled his eyes at them. "Don't even think about it. You aren't seeing anything like that."
Ultear and the others let out a collective, dramatic sigh of disappointment.
"Hey, Master!" Happy suddenly called out, flying over to Makarov. Makarov turned to look at the blue Exceed. "I won the race! What's my prize?!"
Hearing Happy's question, Wendy, Carla, and the rest of the winning squad perked up and looked over.
"Didn't you already get it?" Makarov replied, blinking innocently.
Happy froze. When did he get a prize?
"Haha! The pure joy of victory and the adoring cheers of your comrades—isn't that the absolute greatest reward a mage could ask for?" Makarov laughed, pointing a finger toward the sky.
"What?! Are you kidding me?! That's it?! How could you do this..." Happy stared at the Master in sheer disbelief.
Realizing that there was genuinely no material reward, tears began streaming down Happy's furry cheeks. He had pushed himself to the absolute limit to win first place, and he didn't even get a fish out of it.
Wendy and the other girls immediately slumped, completely disappointed.
"Alright, alright. To celebrate Wendy and the girls taking first place, I say we throw a banquet!" Noah called out to the guild.
"YEAAAHHH!"
The entire guild erupted into deafening cheers, their voices shaking the trees in the park.
"I want tons and tons of fish!" Happy demanded through his tears.
"You got it. All the fish you can eat," Noah promised with a laugh.
"Aye! Did you hear that, Carla?! Tons of fish!" Happy cheered, flying circles around the white Exceed.
"Mmhmm," Carla smiled softly, nodding in agreement. She was actually quite fond of fish herself.
"If you girls have any requests, let me know," Noah offered, turning to Wendy and her team.
"I want a mountain of sweets!" Meredy yelled excitedly. Yukino and Wendy instantly nodded in rapid agreement.
"That's fine, but you can't overeat. If you eat too much sugar, you'll get stomach aches, understand?" Noah lectured gently.
"We understand!" Meredy and the girls promised in perfect unison.
Normally, Noah strictly regulated their daily sugar intake. Hearing that the restrictions were being lifted for the party, they were absolutely thrilled.
"Hurry up and pack up the gear, everyone! Let's head back to the guildhall and get this banquet started!" Noah commanded.
"Right!"
The Fairy Tail mages instantly sprang into action, hastily packing up the event equipment before marching back to the guild in high spirits.
At the banquet, Happy got his wish and gorged himself on a ridiculous amount of fish. Meredy and the girls practically swam in a sea of desserts, stuffing their faces until Ultear and the older women finally had to step in and cut them off before they made themselves sick.
For the next two days, Noah didn't see Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, or Jet anywhere near the guildhall.
After asking around, he confirmed that nobody else had seen them either. It was obvious they had gone into hiding to avoid the Punishment Game.
While a few guild members actively formed search parties to drag them back for the photo shoot, the four losers managed to stay completely off the radar. Eventually, the guild grew bored of the manhunt and lost interest.
Once Happy relayed the message that the coast was clear, the four of them finally crept back into the guildhall.
Seeing them return, Noah had originally planned to walk over and scare the living daylights out of them, but a sudden magical ping interrupted him. Someone was contacting him.
He quietly slipped out of the noisy guildhall and walked into a secluded alleyway. The air rippled like water, and a hooded figure slowly materialized in front of him.
"It's been a while, Mystogan. What's going on?" Noah asked. The person who had contacted him was none other than Fairy Tail's elusive S-Class mage.
"I won't be able to suppress Anima much longer," Mystogan reported, his tone grim.
"Oh? You're actually finding it difficult to hold Anima back now? It seems the forces on the other side are drastically increasing their output," Noah noted with a serious nod.
Mystogan's raw power had grown exponentially over the past few years. By taking on countless high-paying jobs, he had amassed enough wealth to commission and purchase terrifyingly powerful magical staves. By utilizing these top-tier magical items, his combat capabilities completely dwarfed what they had been years ago.
If someone of his current caliber was struggling to suppress Anima, it meant the situation had reached a critical breaking point. It was time to deal with the root of the problem.
"Start making your final preparations. We need to resolve this issue permanently. I'll be joining the operation this time," Noah told him.
Mystogan gave a firm, solemn nod.
He had spent years running across the continent trying to handle this disaster alone, but Noah had told him long ago that this wasn't just his burden to bear. The Anima portals didn't discriminate when stealing targets, and they explicitly prioritized draining mages.
That fact alone was more than enough justification for Fairy Tail to intervene.
Thanks to the covert assistance of Noah and the other S-Class mages over the past few years, Mystogan had been afforded the breathing room to gather crucial intel and make vital preparations. He wasn't surprised in the slightest that Noah was formally stepping in now.
"By the way, that medicine you asked me to synthesize? I've managed to upgrade the formula. The effects are vastly superior to the original batch. Here, take this," Noah said, pulling a glass vial filled with glowing red pills from his Spatial Storage and tossing it to the masked mage.
Mystogan caught the vial and carefully tucked it inside his heavy robes, treating it like a priceless treasure.
"What exactly are the improvements over the previous iterations?" Mystogan asked.
"Well, the old formula only lasted for a few days before the effects wore off and the user's body reverted to its baseline state," Noah explained. "These new pills force the consumer's body to rapidly develop a permanent biological resistance. Once ingested, the effects are permanent—there is no longer a time limit. Furthermore, the breakthrough threshold is significantly stronger, allowing the user to bypass much harsher magical suppressions."
Noah crossed his arms, looking incredibly proud of his handiwork.
"You managed to achieve permanent results?!" Mystogan gasped in utter shock.
When Noah had delivered the very first batch of X-Balls years ago, Mystogan had been perfectly satisfied. As long as the pills granted Earth Land mages the ability to temporarily bypass Edolas's restrictions, he could finally invite his guildmates to help him save his world.
Over the years, he had fully realized that stopping Anima was impossible for one person; he needed Fairy Tail's strength. But he never dared to dream that Noah could actually permanently rewrite the biological limitations of an Earth Land mage.
With this new medicine, his confidence in permanently stopping Anima skyrocketed.
Seeing Mystogan's stunned expression, Noah's smile widened.
Mystogan had originally requested the medicine specifically for mages born in Earth Land. It was designed to allow them to cast magic in Edolas—a parallel world severely devoid of magical particles.
Whether it was because Edolas's atmosphere and earth lacked the necessary ethernano to form a natural magical circuit with a human body, or because the world itself actively suppressed external magical sources, the fact remained: anyone containing internal magical power (Earth Landers) was completely neutralized upon entering Edolas.
The only creatures native to Edolas capable of internal magic were the Exceeds—cats like Happy and Carla. They were born with one specific, innate spell: Wing Magic, which allowed them to sprout white wings and fly.
Mystogan had begged Noah to create a drug that would shatter this environmental restriction, allowing Earth Land mages to retain their combat abilities in the alternate dimension.
Knowing Noah's unmatched expertise in alchemy and magical pharmacology, Mystogan had handed over all his dimensional research data. Noah hadn't disappointed. He had synthesized the drug perfectly, handing the very first batch to Mystogan years ago.
Mystogan had officially named the pills "X-Balls."
While the original X-Balls only lasted for a few days, Mystogan had considered it an absolute miracle. He had fully expected Noah's creation to only last an hour or two.
But after handing over that first batch, Noah had never stopped refining the formula.
After all, who knew what other bizarre dimensions or magical seals existed out there? What if they encountered an enemy who could completely strip a person's ability to use magic? A temporary fix wasn't good enough for Noah.
If his magic was completely sealed, he wouldn't even be able to open his Spatial Storage. And if he couldn't open his Spatial Storage, he couldn't access his backup supply of X-Balls—rendering the temporary pills completely useless in a real crisis. Since mages kept their most vital gear in their spatial inventories, a permanent solution was mandatory.
After pouring an insane amount of time and resources into the project, Noah had finally perfected the permanent X-Ball. Not only did it permanently alter the user's biological resistance, but it pushed through suppression fields with overwhelming force. Even in domains with maximum magic-sealing properties, the user would still be able to cast spells. Their magic might be slightly weakened, but that was a trivial issue. Raw power and spell efficacy could easily be compensated for by just pouring more magical energy into the attack.
"Of course I did. Who do you think you're talking to?" Noah smirked confidently.
"Thank you... truly," Mystogan bowed his head, expressing his deepest, most sincere gratitude.
Whether it was rallying the guild to help him fight Anima, or spending years developing this revolutionary medicine, Noah had done so much for him. Pushing the X-Balls to this level of perfection must have cost an unimaginable amount of time and effort. Mystogan was eternally grateful.
"Don't mention it. This medicine is incredibly useful for my own survival as well. Helping you was just helping myself," Noah waved off the praise.
"Even so, you are the one who created it, and you are the one who perfected it. I owe you," Mystogan insisted seriously.
"Alright, enough with the sappy gratitude," Noah sighed, cutting him off. "Since you're already struggling to suppress Anima, if anything changes, you need to notify us immediately. Do not try to shoulder this burden by yourself, understand?"
Noah stared Mystogan dead in the eye, his tone leaving absolutely zero room for argument. He had to stop Mystogan from doing something suicidal.
When this all started, Mystogan had genuinely intended to fight an entire kingdom's dimensional plundering operation entirely on his own. He was only thirteen years old at the time. It was only because Noah had forcibly exposed the truth and dragged the other S-Class mages into the fold that Mystogan had survived this long.
Coming back to Magnolia to warn Noah today was a massive step forward. It proved that Mystogan finally understood the value of relying on his comrades.
Still, Noah felt the need to hammer the point home just to ensure the masked mage didn't revert to his old, self-sacrificial habits. If he tried to be a martyr now, it would be a disaster for everyone.
"I understand. If the situation escalates, I swear I will inform the guild before I act," Mystogan promised firmly.
"That's exactly what I want to hear," Noah nodded in satisfaction.
"After relying on all of your help these past few years, I've realized how much easier it is to face Anima with Fairy Tail by my side," Mystogan admitted with a soft smile beneath his mask.
Then, his expression hardened back into utmost seriousness. "When the time comes... I'll be counting on you. I need Fairy Tail's strength."
"Don't worry about it. Just rely on us when the time comes. You're a member of Fairy Tail, Mystogan. Comrades helping comrades is just what we do," Noah replied earnestly.
"Thank you. I'm going to head back out and track the Anima portals. I'll contact you if anything happens," Mystogan said.
With that, he turned away. His body began to ripple and distort like a reflection on water, slowly fading into the air until he was completely gone.
Watching the space where Mystogan had just been standing, Noah mentally organized his next steps before turning around and walking back into the chaotic warmth of the guildhall.
~~~
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