Chapter 427: You Are Enhanced! Go!
"AAAAAHHHH!"
As Noah and the group sprinted down the freshly cleared path, a furious scream echoed from behind them. It was Erza (Edolas).
Earth Land Erza glanced over her shoulder to see her counterpart wielding her spear, sprinting madly to catch up.
"I'll hold her off!" Erza volunteered, slowing her pace to intercept.
"No! Don't stop!" Noah quickly grabbed her arm, pulling her along. "Our primary objective is the castle's center—the King. We don't have time to get bogged down in individual duels."
He didn't voice his secondary concern: leaving Erza behind alone in hostile territory was incredibly risky. If she fell into a trap or got overwhelmed, rescuing her would be disastrous. Sticking together was the safest and most efficient strategy.
"Understood!" Erza nodded, suppressing her urge to duel her counterpart. Staying with the team was paramount.
"Don't think you can escape! Ice-Fire Spear!" Erza (Edolas) roared.
Suddenly, waves of intense heat and freezing cold washed over the group from behind. Meredy glanced back to see Erza (Edolas) had closed the distance considerably. She was now dual-wielding two spears—one red, one blue. The red spear launched a torrent of flames, while the blue spear froze the cobblestones, sending a wave of ice spikes hurtling toward them.
"Natsu!" Laxus, bringing up the rear, barked an order as he sidestepped the incoming flames. He raised his hand and unleashed a violent surge of lightning.
The lightning condensed into a massive, crackling spear that shattered the incoming ice wave without losing momentum, rocketing straight toward Erza (Edolas).
"Sealing Spear!"
Realizing she couldn't dodge the high-speed lightning, Erza (Edolas) swiftly shifted the form of one of her spears. With a powerful swing, she sliced the lightning spear in two.
However, her interception wasn't perfect. Residual arcs of electricity lashed her body, causing her muscles to seize momentarily.
But the paralysis was quickly overshadowed by sheer disbelief as she witnessed an impossible sight. "H-How?! He actually ate my flames?!"
Upon hearing Laxus shout his name, Natsu had instantly understood the play. He dropped back from the vanguard position, lunged directly into the path of the incoming fire blast, and began eagerly devouring the flames.
He swallowed the last wisps of fire, letting out a satisfied burp that produced a small puff of smoke. Wiping his mouth, Natsu grinned fiercely. "Thanks for the meal! I'M ALL FIRED UP!"
Without missing a beat, he sprinted back to the front of the formation to resume clearing the path.
"Damn it!" Erza (Edolas) gritted her teeth, recovering from her shock. No matter how absurd their abilities were, they were enemies. She had to take them down.
"Gravity Spear!"
Her weapon shifted form once more. The tip gathered a rapidly expanding sphere of hyper-dense, pitch-black gravity. She thrust the spear, launching the gravitational anomaly directly at Laxus.
"Heh. Noah pulls this trick all the time. Let's see how I do," Laxus smirked, completely unfazed. He raised his right hand, and a sphere of highly concentrated, volatile lightning the size of a human head instantly materialized in his palm.
With a powerful thrust, he unleashed a massive, roaring pillar of lightning that clashed head-on with the gravitational sphere.
BOOM!
The two opposing forces detonated mid-air. The resulting explosion kicked up a massive cloud of dust and unleashed a shockwave that forced Erza (Edolas) to stumble backward several paces. Laxus didn't even flinch.
Zzzzt!
A distinct, albeit slightly weaker, beam of lightning pierced through the smoke cloud, aimed dead-center at Erza (Edolas).
Laxus's attack hadn't just neutralized her Gravity Spear; it had completely overpowered it.
Having anticipated a counter-attack while she was off-balance, Erza (Edolas) narrowly sidestepped the residual lightning beam.
Seeing her dodge, Laxus didn't linger. He immediately transformed into a bolt of lightning and zipped back to his position in the rearguard, continuing the charge.
Infuriated that her opponent had simply brushed her off, Erza (Edolas) gripped her spears tightly and resumed her pursuit.
Noah's group advanced with unstoppable momentum. The scattered Royal Army soldiers attempting to block the carved path were completely outmatched, swatted aside like annoying insects.
Erza (Edolas) managed to launch several more rear-guard assaults, but Laxus intercepted and deflected every single one, preventing her from slowing their advance.
After several failed attempts, a soldier sprinted up to Erza (Edolas), whispering an urgent message. She frowned, nodded sharply, and quickly turned away, abandoning her pursuit and disappearing down a side street alongside the messenger.
With Erza (Edolas) gone, the group's pace increased even further.
"Noah, have you noticed that we're encountering fewer and fewer soldiers?" Ultear asked, swatting a lone guardsman aside.
"Mhm. They're definitely thinning out," Noah nodded.
"Does that mean the Royal Army has run out of troops to throw at us?! That's great!" Earth Land Lucy cheered, feeling a surge of hope.
"I highly doubt that, Lucy-nee..." Wendy said hesitantly.
"Lucy is being way too optimistic," Happy agreed.
"What?! We're fighting a whole kingdom! Can't I be happy about some good news?!" Lucy pouted defensively.
"It's not that they've run out of troops. It's that they've stopped feeding us stragglers and have concentrated their remaining forces ahead of us. They're waiting for us," Noah clarified, shattering Lucy's short-lived hope.
His enhanced vision allowed him to see far beyond the immediate ruins. At the end of the blasted pathway, he could clearly see a massive, organized legion of Royal Army soldiers forming a heavily fortified blockade.
It looked like every available soldier in the vicinity had been mobilized. A rough estimate put their numbers well over ten thousand.
Furthermore, by pushing his magical sight even further, Noah could see additional battalions marching toward the central plaza from the outer districts.
"There's a massive army waiting for us ahead. I'd estimate at least ten thousand troops, and more are currently en route to reinforce them," Noah reported the grim reality without sugarcoating it.
"WHAT?! Ten thousand?!" Lucy shrieked, her face draining of color. The others also grimaced, the gravity of the situation fully settling in.
They had mentally prepared themselves for a large-scale battle, but hearing the actual number was still a hard pill to swallow.
"It makes sense. They recently obtained a massive influx of magic power from Earth Land. To protect the giant Lacrima crystal containing that power, they would naturally fortify the Royal City's defenses to the maximum," Ultear deduced logically.
"So they pulled troops from other regions and stationed them all here," Sorano added.
"And since they knew we were coming via the underground tunnels, they likely pre-positioned their forces for a rapid response," Mirajane noted.
"Furthermore, the King has spent the last two years systematically dismantling every Mage Guild in the country. He would need a massive, well-equipped standing army to enforce such a decree," Laxus pointed out.
"Precisely. And to deter any surviving Guild Mages from seeking revenge, he'd maintain a heavy garrison in the capital. Facing an army of this size is exactly what we signed up for," Noah concluded calmly.
"Then... what do we do now?" Lucy asked, her voice trembling slightly. Marching headlong into an army of ten thousand was terrifying.
"Well... first, we take a break," Noah suggested, halting his steps.
"A break?! Now?!" Lucy stared at him incredulously.
"He's right. We can afford to rest for a moment. Look around; the surviving soldiers aren't daring to approach us," Ultear noted, scanning their surroundings.
The scattered Royal Army soldiers who had been trailing them immediately took several nervous steps back upon making eye contact with Ultear.
"It seems we've successfully terrified them. This is the perfect time for a breather," Sorano chuckled softly, noticing the soldiers' apprehension.
"We can't rest for long, though. They won't give us much time," Mirajane warned. While the soldiers kept their distance, their staves remained leveled at the group. They were waiting for orders or reinforcements; if the group lingered too long, they would eventually attack.
"Here. Drink these. Recover your strength and magic power," Noah instructed, pulling several vials of restorative potions from his inventory and tossing one to everyone.
The group caught the vials and downed them without hesitation.
Almost immediately, a warm, soothing sensation spread from their stomachs outward. Their depleted stamina and magic reserves rapidly replenished, and any minor scrapes or bruises they had sustained healed flawlessly.
After resting for a few minutes, the surrounding soldiers began to grow restless. While they were terrified of the Earth Land monsters, standing around passively while the enemy rested was a gross dereliction of duty.
"Looks like our break is over. Let's get moving," Noah said, noticing the soldiers slowly inching closer, mustering their courage.
"Right!" the group chorused. They immediately fell back into their established formation and resumed their march toward the castle center.
Seeing them move, the surrounding soldiers hastily backed off, choosing to simply shadow them from a safe distance rather than engage.
Since they weren't being actively attacked, Noah's group didn't bother wasting magic to clear the stragglers.
Without any organized resistance to slow them down, their pace was swift. Noah even intentionally slowed their march slightly to allow the group a bit more active recovery time.
Within a short time, they reached the end of the blasted pathway and stepped into a colossal, open plaza.
Looming directly adjacent to the plaza was the castle's central spire—the highest tower in the Royal City.
The plaza itself was a sea of armor. Tens of thousands of Royal Army soldiers stood in disciplined, perfectly aligned formations, creating an impenetrable wall of steel and magic staves.
Standing at the very front of the army were three familiar figures: Erza (Edolas), Sugarboy, and a heavily bandaged Hughes.
"This is the end of the line for you. You will all die here today," Erza (Edolas) declared coldly, leveling her spear directly at Noah's group.
"Damn you! You inflicted such humiliating injuries on me! I'm going to make you suffer!" Hughes snarled venomously. He had clearly received emergency magical healing, but his hatred burned hotter than ever.
"Mmm~ To brazenly challenge an entire Kingdom... what should I call you? Fools? Or simply reckless?" Sugarboy sighed, shaking his head as if pitying their impending doom.
"You're the ones who attacked us first. You attempted to murder our comrades. You made an enemy of Fairy Tail, and we never let our enemies off easy!" Gray retorted, his expression deadly serious.
"Exactly! Anyone who hurts our family is our enemy!" Natsu roared in agreement.
"Damn it! Why couldn't you just obediently turn into magic power for us?!" Hughes screamed in frustration.
Noah completely ignored Hughes's deranged logic. Only a complete psychopath would genuinely believe someone should willingly offer themselves up as living batteries.
He scanned the plaza and the adjacent tower, his eyes searching for his primary target.
"The King is up there. Are we going to try and break through the lines to reach him?" Laxus asked, having also spotted the elderly King standing on a balcony high up on the central spire. A young girl could be seen running around playfully near him.
"We need to thin the herd here first. We'll decide how to approach the King once we've dealt with the immediate threat," Noah analyzed the situation.
He looked closely at Erza (Edolas), the other two Captains, and the core elite troops standing directly behind them. Their eyes were filled with absolute, unwavering killing intent. These were the soldiers who fully understood the true nature of Anima—that they were sacrificing human lives for magic power—and supported it wholeheartedly.
The tens of thousands of regular soldiers behind them lacked that same venomous malice. They were undoubtedly furious at the intruders attacking their capital, but they were likely ignorant of the horrifying truth behind Anima.
The true architects of this atrocity, and those who knowingly enforced it, had to be crushed. The rest could be dealt with accordingly.
Laxus nodded, understanding Noah's assessment.
"Are we really going to fight all of them? Can we even win?" Earth Land Lucy asked, her voice shaking as she stared at the overwhelming sea of enemies. Meredy, Wendy, and Yukino also looked at Noah nervously.
"Of course we can. If I didn't think we could win, I wouldn't have agreed to this plan," Noah smiled reassuringly, shaking his head.
"I'll handle the support. You guys go out there and experience what it's like to fight a war against ten thousand men!"
Noah clapped his hands together with a resounding SMACK.
A massive, intricate golden magic circle instantly materialized beneath his feet, rapidly expanding outward until it engulfed every single member of the Earth Land Fairy Tail.
"Enchantment: Full Body Attribute Boost!"
"Enchantment: Omni-Resistance Boost!"
"Enchantment: Magic Power Amplification!"
"Enchantment: Mental Fortitude!"
"Enchantment: Precision Control Enhancement!"
"Enchantment: Accelerated Healing!"
"Enchantment: Hyper-Sensory Perception!"
"Enchantment: Perfect Equilibrium!"
"Enchantment: Ultimate Offense, Defense, and Speed Boost!"
A cascade of powerful, high-tier enchantments rained down upon the Fairy Tail Mages. Brilliant, multi-colored auras of magic flared continuously around their bodies. Their physical presence and magical pressure spiked exponentially, the sheer density of their auras becoming visible to the naked eye.
"You are fully enhanced! GO!" Noah roared, his voice filled with absolute, unwavering confidence.
~~~
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