Chapter 415: The Laxus of Another World
"If we're heading to the Royal Capital, it's a five-day journey from here," Edolas Lucy explained to Noah's group after they safely exited the guild.
"Right. But we're not going to the Royal Capital just yet. First, we need to go find this world's Laxus," Noah replied.
"Find Laxus?"
"Isn't his health in terrible shape? I'm going to go treat him and get his body back on track," Noah explained casually.
"I see! In that case, let me guide you there," Edolas Lucy nodded immediately. Naturally, she would never object to her comrade getting healthier. "However, heading to Laxus's safehouse requires a bit of a detour. Is that going to mess up your schedule?"
"Not at all. We have plenty of time," Noah nodded. There was no immediate ticking clock forcing them to rush.
"That's good. Laxus is this way. We aren't too far from his location; it should only take about a day's travel," Edolas Lucy said, checking her bearings before pointing out the direction.
"I'm counting on you," Laxus stepped up and said to Edolas Lucy.
"O-Oh... It's no problem at all. Laxus getting healthier is a great thing," Edolas Lucy stammered, a bit startled by the towering, muscular man speaking directly to her. She remembered that this Earth Land Laxus was the one who had specifically asked Noah to heal his counterpart.
"Let's move out," Noah announced. Everyone nodded in agreement.
Under Edolas Lucy's lead, the strike team began their trek.
At that moment, Mystogan silently walked up beside Noah, gently tapping his arm to signal something. Understanding the silent cue, Noah matched Mystogan's pace, falling to the very back of the group.
"Is something wrong?" Noah asked quietly.
"I'd like to break off from the group for now and head straight to the Royal Capital to make some preparations," Mystogan stated.
"That works. What you need to do definitely requires advance prep. Do you want me to give you a lift?" Noah offered.
"You know the way to the Royal Capital?" Mystogan asked, slightly confused.
"No, I just know its general coordinates," Noah shook his head.
Suddenly, a second Noah materialized right beside them. The two Noahs seamlessly merged, with the clone fading into the main body.
"A Thought Projection? I see. You left a projection hidden near the guild's previous location before we teleported to track the pursuing army, thus pinpointing the Royal Capital's location," Mystogan deduced instantly upon seeing Noah's magic.
"Precisely. To be exact, I planted a spatial marker on their mounts. That marker is currently moving rapidly in that direction, which should obviously be where the Royal Capital is situated," Noah said, raising his hand to point into the distance.
Mystogan nodded; that direction was indeed entirely accurate.
"Alright then, I'll send you directly there and lend you a hand while I'm at it."
With that, another Thought Projection stepped out of Noah's body. The projection placed a hand on Mystogan's shoulder, and in a flash of light, both vanished from the spot.
"What did you and Mystogan just do?" Mirajane noticed their quiet exchange, slowing her pace to walk beside Noah.
"Mystogan needed to head to the Royal Capital early to prepare some things, so I used a Thought Projection to warp him there," Noah explained.
"I see," Mirajane nodded softly.
"How was your chat with your alternate selves?" Noah asked.
"It was wonderful. Just like Lisanna said, the Edolas version of me is incredibly gentle, and their sibling bond is absolutely beautiful," Mirajane smiled brightly.
She had spent some time catching up with Edolas Mirajane and Edolas Elfman. With Lisanna right there with them, they had talked happily. Seeing their undisguised familial love made Mirajane feel deeply relieved and proud.
"That's great."
"They kept expressing how endlessly grateful they are to you, you know," Mirajane giggled softly.
"Saving someone is just the right thing to do. There's no need to dwell on it," Noah shook his head humbly.
Hearing his response, a radiant, affectionate smile bloomed on Mirajane's face. She couldn't help but step closer, wrapping her arms securely around Noah's arm and resting her head against his shoulder.
As the group traveled, they constantly looked around, marveling at the bizarre alien landscape and snapping photos of things they had never seen before. Edolas Lucy, watching them, eventually couldn't resist asking Earth Land Lucy to take a few pictures for her too, which Noah promptly printed out using his magic.
"What an incredible tool. It's a real shame that we can't use any magic items out in the open anymore," Edolas Lucy sighed, looking at the magical camera photos in her hands.
"Oh? Care to explain?" Noah asked curiously, drawing the attention of Laxus and the rest of the team.
"In the past, magic was a normal commodity that could be bought and sold freely. But in the last two years, after the King ordered the absolute disbandment of all wizard guilds, the sale of magic was strictly outlawed. Worse than that, even simply possessing magic is now considered a severe crime," Edolas Lucy explained with a heavy, helpless tone.
"So it was right after I left this world that the King issued the order to purge the guilds... and it was during these past two years that so many of our Fairy Tail comrades were killed..." Lisanna said, her voice cracking as tears began to stream down her face.
The overwhelming joy of reuniting with her siblings had temporarily pushed the grim reality out of her mind. Combined with the chaotic Royal Army attack that followed, she hadn't had a moment to process the sheer number of guildmates who were permanently gone. Now that the topic was brought up, the delayed wave of grief completely engulfed her.
Mirajane immediately stepped forward and pulled her into a tight embrace. Lisanna buried her face in Mirajane's chest, crying bitterly. Mirajane gently patted her back, remaining silent, simply offering her presence and absolute comfort.
Noah and the others fell into a heavy silence. Faced with such a crushing tragedy, they didn't know what to say.
"Because of the King's decree, it's become incredibly difficult for us to even replenish our basic magic supplies," Edolas Lucy spoke up after a moment of heavy silence, breaking the ice.
"Possessing it is a crime... Then what about people who can naturally use magic?" Noah asked, purposely guiding the conversation away from the depressing topic.
"Huh?" Edolas Lucy blinked, momentarily confused before answering. "What do you mean, what about them? If they just gave up their magic tools, wouldn't they be fine? But then again, as far as I know, there is absolutely no one in this world who naturally possesses magic inside their bodies. You guys are the very first people I've ever seen who can generate magic yourselves."
"It seems that in this world, magic is literally treated as a physical commodity," Erza observed sharply.
Hearing her strict, authoritative voice, Edolas Lucy flinched visibly. She still couldn't fully process that an Erza was actually on her side and not actively trying to slaughter her. So whenever Erza spoke or even looked her way, Edolas Lucy fought the instinctual urge to run for her life.
"I apologize. Did my voice startle you?" Erza asked, noticing her terrified reaction and looking incredibly guilty.
"N-No! That's a 'me' problem! I'm just really not used to your voice and face not trying to kill me!" Edolas Lucy frantically waved her hands in defense.
"Getting back to the topic... 'finite magic' implies that beings like us, who naturally produce magic within our physical bodies, simply don't exist here," Cana chimed in, analyzing the lore.
"Right. The only things that possess magic are materials like Lacrima crystals. By combining these materials with weapons or everyday items, they create magic items. This entire system of tools is broadly referred to as 'Magic'," Ultear summarized perfectly.
"So, when they say 'Mage' here, they literally just mean someone who uses a magic tool?" Sorano asked, thoroughly puzzled.
"We have plenty of people who use magic tools in our world too. Like me, I use Card Magic," Cana said, displaying her deck of magical cards with a flick of her wrist.
"That's true, but we possess our own internal magic power. We use our magic to drive the tools. People here can only rely on the finite magic already stored inside the item itself to activate it. That is the fundamental difference between us," Erza explained.
"Agreed. That's our biggest distinction," Ultear nodded.
"No wonder that guy Mystogan is so ridiculously strong even when exclusively using magic staves. He originally came from a world like this, so he's naturally hyper-adapted to that fighting style," Laxus realized with a smirk.
"When you put it that way, it makes perfect sense," Sorano agreed.
"Mystogan?" Edolas Lucy asked, confused by the unfamiliar name.
"The guy in the cloak who was walking in the back earlier. He's actually from your world," Erza explained. "Years ago, he discovered the Anima plot and traveled to our Earth Land to systematically stop the portals from activating. Much of what we know about this world comes from him and Lisanna."
"Wow..." Edolas Lucy's face filled with profound admiration. To dedicate oneself to stopping such a massive threat alone... she could only feel deep respect for him.
Under Mirajane's soothing comfort, Lisanna finally stabilized her emotions, and the group resumed their journey.
As the scenery along the dirt road became repetitive, the novelty wore off, and Noah's group decided they wanted to pick up the pace.
"If we want to speed up, there's a guy back at the guild who specializes in that. It's a shame we didn't bring him along," Edolas Lucy sighed regretfully.
"If it's just about going faster, we have our own methods," Noah smiled confidently.
He clapped his hands together. A glowing golden magic circle appeared beneath his feet, instantly followed by identical arrays materializing under everyone else.
"Enchantment: Speed Boost!"
A surge of magical light washed over them, and the circles vanished.
"Whoa! My body feels incredibly light! Is this your world's magic?! This is amazing!" Edolas Lucy jumped on the spot, then took a few rapid steps. She felt significantly faster—at least twice her normal speed.
"This should help us reach our destination a lot quicker, right?" Noah smiled.
"Absolutely! If we keep this pace up, we can get there in half a day!" Edolas Lucy cheered enthusiastically.
"Maintaining it is no problem, but we can go even faster." Noah clapped his hands again, drastically amplifying the enchantment.
"Whoa whoa!" Edolas Lucy gasped in pleasant surprise as her speed multiplied again. She was now moving at roughly eight times her normal running speed.
"At this rate, we'll get there in about an hour!" she practically squealed with excitement. "But isn't this a little too fast?!"
Edolas Lucy tried taking a few sprinting steps, only to have a violent gale smash into her face, nearly tearing her hair out of its bands. She quickly stopped to frantically fix her hairstyle.
"Ah, my bad. Forgot about wind resistance," Noah apologized. He clapped his hands a third time, casting a sleek aerodynamic shield over everyone.
Edolas Lucy took a few more steps and realized the harsh wind was completely gone.
"I'll maintain this buff continuously. I've also cast a large-scale illusion over our group to render us completely invisible to the outside. As long as no one physically bumps into us, they won't be able to see us," Noah informed her.
"You really thought of everything," Edolas Lucy noted, deeply impressed.
She had initially been worried, as sprinting at superhuman speeds would immediately out them as magic users and cause massive trouble with the authorities. But with Noah's invisibility spell, she just had to steer them clear of pedestrians without needing to take obscure, difficult backroads.
"Let's go!" Natsu couldn't hold back any longer and instantly blasted off. He had never been buffed with Noah's speed enchantment before, so he naturally wanted to enjoy the thrill of zooming around.
"Seriously, he has zero chill," Gray muttered, though his own legs were already a blur as he instinctively accelerated, leaving icy afterimages in his wake.
"Well... feel free to have some fun, but don't stray too far from me. If you exit the radius, the illusion will drop," Noah chuckled at their energetic antics.
He then pushed the enchantment to its absolute limit, cranking everyone's speed to ten times their normal rate.
The group essentially turned into a pack of wild animals let off their leashes, zooming around the landscape and leaving trails of afterimages everywhere. After blowing off some steam, they finally formed up behind Edolas Lucy and hit the road properly.
Of course, halfway through, Natsu and Gray turned it into a hyper-competitive race, desperate to outpace each other. To keep them inside the illusion's radius, Noah was forced to match their absurd sprinting speed. Consequently, the rest of the group had to sprint just to keep up.
As a result, in less than an hour, they arrived at the town where Edolas Laxus was hiding.
"You two! Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?!" Erza roared, catching up to Natsu and Gray. BAM! BAM! She delivered two merciless punches to their skulls, instantly burying them face-first into the dirt.
Pant, pant...
Natsu and Gray were wheezing heavily on the ground, lacking the energy to even argue back. Yet, even from the dirt, they glared at each other, refusing to concede defeat.
"Is this where the Edolas Laxus lives?" Wendy asked as she, Meredy, Yukino, Happy, and Carla gently floated down from the sky.
Since they physically couldn't keep up with the absurd Mach-speed sprinting of the older mages, Noah had cast Gravity Magic on them, allowing them to effortlessly float along with the group. Happy and Carla had originally wanted to fly, but Noah covertly warned them not to use their Aera magic out in the open.
"Yeah... this is it. Follow me," Edolas Lucy panted. After catching her breath, she led Noah's team forward.
Noah dispelled the speed enchantment but kept the illusion active. The group slowed to a normal walk, catching their breath as they navigated the town. Under Edolas Lucy's guidance, they dodged the locals and slipped into a remarkably ordinary, rundown corner of the town, stopping in front of a completely inconspicuous house.
Edolas Lucy stepped up and knocked on the door. After a few taps, a familiar, albeit raspy and cough-filled voice answered from inside:
"Cough, cough... Who's there?"
"It's me. I've come to see you," Edolas Lucy replied.
Soon, the wooden door cracked open. A man with the exact same facial features as Laxus peeked out. He cautiously scanned the surroundings first before looking back at Edolas Lucy.
"Why are you looking for me at a time like this? And who are these people...?" he asked, eyeing Noah's heavily armed group suspiciously.
"They are all friends. Don't worry, they aren't with the Royal Army," Edolas Lucy quickly assured him.
"Then come inside first," Edolas Laxus said, pulling the door wider. He scanned the street one last time with extreme paranoia before a harsh fit of coughing overtook him.
Seeing his alternate self's frail condition, Earth Land Laxus couldn't help but frown deeply.
It seemed his Edolas counterpart's health was truly deteriorating. In just a few seconds, he had already coughed violently multiple times.
~~~
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