Faced with the encirclement of the Edolas Fairy Tail members, Doragon and his companions were ultimately outnumbered and forced into a desperate situation.
Suddenly, Doragon's expression darkened. He could feel the faint tremor beneath his feet and hear the muffled rumble of countless footsteps approaching in the distance. Clearly, reinforcements were arriving on the enemy's side.
"Give up resistance, and you might still live," the young commander sneered as he looked at the three of them. He wasn't entirely sure which one of the three was the target his superiors wanted—perhaps only one, perhaps all of them.
Best to capture them all alive.
"Lucy, go to Aslant—get help!" Doragon seized an opening, tearing open a dimensional gate. Without giving Lucy a moment to hesitate, he kicked her through the portal, leaving only himself and Wendy to withstand the overwhelming assault.
"Natsu…" Edolas Wendy caught sight of Doragon's decision, her expression wavering. But she said nothing—only twisting and leaping aside to dodge an oncoming smoke attack, forcing herself to focus on their grim reality.
"Fools. Do you think that will change anything?" The young commander's face hardened. He hadn't expected them to succeed in sending someone away under such conditions.
Without hesitation, he enacted his backup plan. Turning to the entranced Mirajane and Edolas Elfman among the crowd, he barked:
"Time-Space Ring."
At his command, the two nodded blankly. A surge of magic gathered overhead, condensing into their arm markings.
The instant the marks resonated, a tremendous force spread outward.
A translucent film slowly expanded, spanning more than ten kilometers. From outside, it looked as if a massive chunk of the world had been cut out and replaced with a mismatched fragment—like corrupted server data overlaying incompatible landscapes.
Inside, Doragon's vision warped. He realized with horror that he could see the back of his own head.
The distortion deepened with every passing moment. The world grew darker.
"What is this…?" Doragon's voice was low, his gaze locked on Mirajane and Elfman. It was clear this phenomenon originated with them.
"Complacency—that is both your virtue and your curse," the young commander said, admiration and scorn mingling in his tone. "To hold such convenient, overwhelming power in your hands, yet never once think to truly explore it…"
A treasure in their grasp, and they didn't even know it.
He offered no further explanation.
"Capture them alive," he ordered again. This time, not only the Fairy Tail members but also professional Edolas soldiers surged forward, wielding their magitek weapons with trained precision. Streams of fire and light crisscrossed the air, methodically shrinking Doragon and Wendy's room to move.
"Ahh!!"
"Wendy!" Doragon spun around at the cry. Edolas Wendy's right hand had been pierced by a magic bullet. Her staff shattered. She collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony.
"You bastards!!" Doragon roared, fury driving him as he charged straight at Edolas Troy, the vessel of the young commander.
Bang!
The sharp crack of a gunshot split the air. Doragon skidded to a halt, his blood boiling with rage—but unable to take another step.
The young commander, calm and unhurried, pressed a magitek gun against Edolas Lucy's head.
"If you want to continue, I don't mind killing someone. I've heard you value your comrades very much."
Doragon's body shook with fury. How could they…? How could they do this?!
"Surrender. It's your only choice," the commander declared coldly. As long as he held Fairy Tail hostage, Natsu Doragon could do nothing.
Relaxing into his false sense of control, he even began to chat idly. "Honestly, I dislike such methods myself—unsightly, childish, like playing house. But the higher-ups demanded you be taken alive. Dead is not an option."
He tilted his head, scrutinizing them. "What exactly makes you so special? If it's about crossing worlds, even those two can achieve it. And why does Mind Armament fail against you? I can't figure it out. I just can't."
Mirajane and Edolas Elfman stood flanking him like bodyguards, while Doragon seethed, locked in a deadly stalemate.
The commander waved his hand, ordering his men to secure Doragon and Wendy. He was already growing tired of the game. It wasn't even entertaining anymore.
Besides, Aslant remained an unpredictable threat—his superiors had warned him about it repeatedly. Best to finish the mission quickly and leave.
He was about to instruct Mirajane and Elfman to open a new dimensional passage when—
A black shadow sliced through the air. Wind roared in his ears. The commander's instincts screamed. He tried to retreat—
—but too late.
A massive hand clamped around his head and lifted him off the ground.
The grip was unyielding, like forged steel. Pressure built until his skull felt ready to burst. Forcing his eyes open, he stared into the cold, indifferent face of Doragon.
And for the first time, he saw everything.
Because of Mirajane and Elfman's magic, a space-time membrane had formed. The barrier itself caused no harm to life or matter, but it nullified any other attempts to pass through time or space. The two ends of the membrane connected seamlessly, forming an infinite time-space loop.
Inside, light endlessly reflected off the barrier, unable to escape, granting anyone within a god's-eye perspective.
This was why the commander had mocked the Edolas Fairy Tail as fools. The gift Papy had bestowed upon them was a treasure capable of elevating them to world-class heights. Yet they never once tried to develop it.
But pride, confidence, and privilege—no matter how great—would always shatter before a greater, more violent power.
"Because I will it so… it has no effect," Doragon said coldly. His pink hair darkened to black, his aura swelling until the very air trembled. A deadly, suffocating pressure radiated from him. His face was expressionless—like that of a weary, ancient man.
In that moment, he resembled the black-robed man of Edolas.
"You are always the same. Why won't you admit the truth of this world?" His words hung between sorrow and resignation. Then, before the commander could even comprehend it—
Crack!
Doragon crushed his skull in his palm. Red and white burst across the ground.
He tossed the body aside without a glance, drawing a pair of mechanical gloves from his chest. Light glimmered from the fingertips as he linked to something unseen. A magical screen materialized in midair, keyboard and panels glowing with power.
Doragon began to type, his expression cold.
Zooming out—the battlefield revealed itself. Every soldier, every non-Fairy Tail member had turned jet black, their bodies crisscrossed with cracks.
They were all dead.
The world had become a living hell.