Chapter 413: Relocation
"Reactor ignition sequence ready...
Coordinate tracking set...
Time until error correction... Five, four, three, two, one...
Linking with coordinate anchor... Injecting magic power into the buffer..."
A voice absolutely identical to Levy's echoed from the side of the hall.
Noah turned his head and saw a young woman with short blue hair sitting in front of a massive, complex bank of machinery. Her fingers flew across the controls with dizzying speed. It was the Edolas version of Levy.
While Noah and the others had been chatting with the Edolas guild members, she had been glued to her terminal the entire time, not even lifting her head once. She was completely and utterly absorbed in operating the machinery.
Looking at the setup, Noah quickly deduced that this massive mechanical array was the core tool allowing the Edolas Fairy Tail to constantly escape the Royal Army's pursuit.
It was a fascinating contrast. In Earth Land, Levy was a total bookworm who loved literature and ancient scripts. Here in Edolas, Levy was a hardcore mechanic and tech genius, seamlessly manipulating heavy machinery as if it were an extension of her own body.
"Is the teleportation magic circle not ready yet, Levy?!" Edolas Lucy yelled, completely abandoning her conversation with Earth Land Lucy as she glared at the mechanic.
"I'm literally doing it right now, you stupid Lucy!" Edolas Levy snapped back, her voice dripping with intense stress and irritability.
"You're too slow! The Fairy Hunter is almost here!" Edolas Lucy swung her arm in a harsh, frantic arc.
"I said I know that!" Edolas Levy roared.
"Stop yelling and just focus on the array!"
"Yeah, hurry it up!" Edolas Jet and Droy urged her anxiously, sweat pouring down their faces.
"The Fairy Hunter..."
Natsu and the rest of the Earth Land team gathered around Noah. They watched the Edolas members scramble into a state of absolute, terrified red alert, whispering that cursed moniker.
"So the Royal Army finally tracked this place down. Let's just head outside and intercept them. We can't let them hurt this world's Fairy Tail," Laxus suggested, cracking his knuckles.
"Yeah! We came here to get payback anyway! Let's just blast them into the sky right here, right now!" Natsu cheered, his fiery aura flaring up as he instantly began channeling his magic, ready to kick the doors open.
"Do not use your magic right now!" Noah commanded, slamming a heavy hand onto Natsu's shoulder and instantly forcibly dispersing the gathered flames.
"This entire building is currently spooling up a massive teleportation spell. If you recklessly flare your magic inside, you're going to violently destabilize their teleportation matrix. Furthermore, if you run outside to fight, the guild might teleport away without you, leaving you stranded," Noah explained sharply. "Stay put. I'll give them a hand."
Two intricate golden magic circles began silently spinning just inches in front of Noah's eyes. Relying on his unfathomable depth of magical knowledge, his brain went into overdrive, rapidly analyzing and decoding the structural principles of the building's teleportation array without causing a single ripple of interference.
Hearing Noah's warning, Laxus, Natsu, and the others instantly suppressed their battle lust. They absolutely could not afford to accidentally sabotage the Edolas guild's escape route.
"Distance to teleportation critical point... output power at forty-two percent... forty-four... forty-six... forty-eight..." Edolas Levy counted down, her voice tight with panic.
The massive influx of magical energy violently shook the guildhall. Small pieces of rubble and loose debris began to passively levitate off the floorboard due to the intense gravitational distortion.
The Edolas members were pale with terror. Several of them dropped to the floor and covered their heads with their arms.
"Hah... ah..." Frantic, terrified panting echoed through the quiet room.
"Hurry up, Levy!"
"Stop wasting time!" Edolas Jet and Droy screamed.
"Shut up! You're so loud!" Edolas Levy shrieked back.
"Output power at fifty-eight... sixty... Two minutes until teleportation!" Edolas Levy's voice pitched an octave higher in pure terror.
"The air is... trembling..." Wendy murmured. As a Sky Dragon Slayer, she was hyper-sensitive to atmospheric changes.
"They're here!" Edolas Elfman yelled in sheer panic.
Before he even shouted, Laxus and the other Earth Land mages had already turned their gaze toward the windows. Their enhanced senses had picked up a massive biological entity hurtling toward the guildhall at breakneck speed.
"What the heck is that?" Natsu asked, squinting through the glass.
With his Dragon Slayer vision, he could easily make out the approaching behemoth. It was a massive, dark green, winged creature. It had thick, muscular hind legs, stubby front claws, and a terrifyingly large, bloodthirsty maw. Standing proudly atop the beast's back was the silhouette of a human rider.
"Is that... the alternate version of me?" Erza whispered. Her sharp eyes locked onto the rider, immediately recognizing the flowing crimson hair and the face that mirrored her own. It was the Fairy Hunter.
"Alright! Analysis complete! Let me give you guys a boost!" Noah suddenly announced, drawing everyone's attention.
Without wasting a single second, Noah raised his hands and tapped the empty air. A series of brilliant golden magic circles instantly unfolded around him. Simultaneously, a colossal golden array erupted beneath his feet, rapidly expanding until it perfectly enveloped the entire foundation of the guildhall.
Noah slammed his palms into the floating runes, injecting a massive, perfectly calibrated surge of pure magic directly into the building's main reactor.
"Output power at seventy-one... seventy-eight... eighty-six... It's rising so fast!" Edolas Levy screamed in pure, ecstatic disbelief.
Hearing her joyous shout, the suffocating terror on the faces of the Edolas members instantly gave way to desperate smiles of hope.
"Alright! Critical point reached! Buffer engaged! Teleportation magic circle, EXPAND!" Edolas Levy roared, violently slamming both of the main control levers forward.
A blinding, overwhelming surge of magic flooded the entire guildhall. Instantly, gravity ceased to exist, and every single person inside was forcefully pulled into the air, floating helplessly.
"Whoa! What is this now?!" Natsu yelled, flailing his limbs as he drifted off the ground.
"My body..."
"We're floating!" Meredy, Wendy, and Yukino cried out in a panic, desperately kicking their legs as they lost the reassuring safety of solid ground beneath their feet.
"Don't panic! Big sister is right here!" Sorano instantly manifested her angelic white wings. With a gentle flap, she glided over, pulling Yukino into a reassuring hug to calm her down.
"Everyone! Grab onto something securely!" Edolas Lucy ordered at the top of her lungs.
"I want to grab onto Juvia-chan!" Edolas Gray whined, drifting toward the water mage.
Smack!
Edolas Gray aggressively face-palmed himself as Edolas Juvia ruthlessly shoved her hand directly into his face, violently repelling his advance. "Stop it! Just looking at you makes me feel suffocated!"
"Hey, how come when you use teleportation magic, it doesn't feel anything like this?" Ultear asked, floating over to Noah.
Laxus and the others looked over curiously. Noah had already finished casting; the golden arrays had vanished, and he was currently floating casually in mid-air alongside everyone else.
"Well... I usually only teleport living biological matter. This array is forcefully relocating an entire massive architectural structure along with everything inside it. The spatial displacement mechanics are naturally going to be much rougher," Noah explained calmly.
What Noah conveniently left out was that his own spatial magic was simply lightyears ahead of this machine. His mastery over dimensional coordinates was absolute, which was why his passengers rarely felt even a slight shift in gravity when he warped them. Stating that out loud would just sound like blatant bragging, so he kept it to himself. Laxus and the others knew exactly how monstrous Noah's magic was, so they silently understood the real reason and didn't press the issue.
"Teleportation commencing!" Edolas Levy cheered.
The anti-gravity effect intensified, and the violent shaking of the building reached an absolute crescendo.
"Are we actually going to make it through the jump safely?" Edolas Cana asked, clutching her hat in terror.
"Of course we are," Earth Land Cana grinned, crossing her arms with absolute confidence.
The rest of the Earth Land Fairy Tail nodded in agreement. Even if the machine suffered a catastrophic failure mid-jump, Noah was right here. There was a zero percent chance they were in any real danger.
"I will protect you, Cana!"
"No, I will!" Edolas Macao and Wakaba frantically doggy-paddled through the air, trying to reach Edolas Cana.
"Mira-nee! Lisanna! Hold onto me tight!" Edolas Elfman roared, finally showing a flash of true manly grit. He wrapped his massive arms around both of his sisters, clenching his jaw as he anchored them together.
Seeing her alternate brother finally step up, Earth Land Mirajane smiled warmly. No matter which universe they were in, Elfman was a brother she could be deeply proud of.
"Hmm. This is actually pretty fun. I've never experienced spatial turbulence like this before," Noah commented. He had casually crossed his legs into a lotus position mid-air, resting his chin on his hand as he watched the chaos unfold like he was on a theme park ride.
"Seriously, Noah? How can you be so relaxed right now?" Mirajane sighed helplessly, looking at his utterly carefree posture.
"Because there's zero danger," Noah shrugged with a grin. "The teleportation array has fully engaged, and the enemy is still outside the blast radius. We're perfectly fine."
Seeing his unshakable confidence, the lingering anxiety that had infected the Earth Land mages completely vanished.
"It's swaying... everything is spinning..." Natsu groaned, aggressively clamping both hands over his mouth. His hyper-sensitive Dragon Slayer equilibrium was violently clashing with the dimensional warp, making him incredibly motion sick.
Beside him, Gajeel was in the exact same miserable state, clutching his stomach and looking like he was about to hurl.
Suddenly, a blinding white light engulfed the entire guildhall. The violent, high-frequency spatial vibrations peaked, causing a few members to wince in pain.
In the final split second before the jump, Noah glanced out the window. The massive green beast was diving toward them at terrifying speeds—but it was just a fraction of a second too late.
In a flash of pure white light, the entire Fairy Tail guildhall vanished into thin air.
BOOM!
Seconds later, the massive green beast violently slammed into the exact spot where the guildhall had just been standing, the devastating impact kicking up a towering cloud of dirt and debris.
"They teleported?" the woman standing atop the beast noted, her eyes narrowing.
"A mass teleportation spell? To squander so much precious magic power on a single escape... how deeply troubling. Truly the actions of a Dark Guild," a man with a massive pink pompadour, clad in pink armor, sighed dramatically as he walked up to the massive, empty crater.
"Sugarboy. You're here too?" The woman leaped off the beast's head, revealing her face. She possessed the exact same crimson hair and striking features as Erza. This was Edolas Erza—Erza Knightwalker.
"Indeed. These fairies certainly know how to run," Sugarboy chuckled.
"They buzz around like annoying flies. It's incredibly irritating," Knightwalker spat in absolute disgust.
"It is quite a shame you missed them, Fairy Hunter," Sugarboy noted, glancing at her. "However, their magical reserves are bleeding dry. The number of times they can afford to teleport that massive building is strictly limited. Catching them is only a matter of time."
He paused, a smug smile spreading across his face. "More importantly, the Great Anima Operation appears to have been an absolute success. Command has issued an immediate recall order. All Magic War Division Captains are to return to the Royal Capital at once."
"Did they completely annihilate the Earth Land Fairy Tail?!" Knightwalker asked, her eyes lighting up with fierce excitement.
"To be precise, they were absorbed. Our King truly operates on a magnificent scale," Sugarboy laughed.
"What happened to the Earth Land mages that were absorbed?" Knightwalker pressed.
"They are currently sitting in the heart of the Royal Capital, perfectly fused into a colossal magical Lacrima," Sugarboy answered smoothly.
"Excellent! With a power source that massive, Edolas won't have to worry about its magic depletion for a very long time!" Knightwalker smirked victoriously.
"Indeed," Sugarboy agreed.
Satisfied with the update, the two Captains remounted their beasts and immediately took to the skies, heading straight back to the Royal Capital.
A few moments after they departed, a lone figure stepped silently out from the shadows of the tree line.
"Just as I suspected. They somehow acquired highly classified intelligence regarding our world. That's how they targeted us so precisely and knew exactly who we were. If I hadn't been there, they absolutely would have succeeded. I have to admit, their ambition and execution are impressive."
The figure was none other than Noah's Thought Projection.
The exact moment the guildhall teleported away, Noah had seamlessly split off a clone and cloaked it in the shadows, hoping to gather some actionable intel from the pursuing Royal Army.
His gamble had paid off beautifully. He had just confirmed that, in the minds of the King and the Royal Army, the Anima operation had been a flawless success. They fully believed the Earth Land Fairy Tail—minus the small strike team—had been converted into a massive Lacrima crystal.
Since Noah was fully aware that he had completely dispersed the Anima and spared his guild, this presented a massive tactical advantage. He had no idea if being converted into a Lacrima and then changed back caused permanent biological damage, so preventing it entirely was obviously the right call.
"It seems my illusion magic held up perfectly. They genuinely have no idea the Lacrima they brought back is entirely counterfeit," Noah muttered. "I've successfully planted a spatial tracking marker on that green beast. Based on their conversation, they are heading straight to the Royal Capital. Once they arrive, the marker will give me the exact coordinates of the King's stronghold. Perfect."
"Alright, time to bring this projection back. Let's see... their current coordinates are in this direction."
All of Noah's Thought Projections were directly linked to his primary consciousness. Utilizing advanced cognitive partition magic, he could seamlessly multitask, operating multiple bodies simultaneously without losing focus. While the mental strain of doing so was astronomically high for a normal mage, Noah's terrifyingly fast recovery rate completely nullified the drawback. This was a highly specialized clone magic he had developed entirely for his own unique physiology.
Having locked onto the main body's location, the Thought Projection activated a spatial warp and vanished from the forest.
Meanwhile, in a desolate, barren wasteland miles away, the teleported Fairy Tail guildhall violently materialized out of thin air, sprouting from the sand like a rapidly growing tree.
"Listen up, brats! The relocation is complete!" Edolas Lucy yelled, landing gracefully on her feet as the gravity normalized.
"Thank god..."
"Looks like the jump was a success..."
"Is everyone okay?"
"Yeah, we made it..."
"Mira-nee! Lisanna! Are you both hurt?!"
"I'm perfectly fine, Elf-nii!"
The Edolas members scrambled to check on each other, breathing heavy sighs of relief.
"Relocation...?" Natsu mumbled, shaking his head to clear the motion sickness.
"Relocation... huh," Ultear mused, crossing her arms as she processed Edolas Lucy's phrasing. They were literally running for their lives, but calling it "relocation" certainly put a positive spin on things.
"Teleporting the entire physical guildhall to escape... that's absolutely insane," Earth Land Cana whistled in genuine awe.
"It's a highly impressive tactical maneuver," Erza nodded in agreement.
"Noah! When are we going to install an awesome feature like this in our guild?! It would be so cool!" Sorano cheered, hugging Yukino as she looked at Noah.
"Honestly? I might actually look into it," Noah nodded thoughtfully. The ability to instantaneously relocate the entire guild headquarters was undeniably a fantastic defensive upgrade to consider for the future.
~~~
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