(Sorry, I misplaced Carla in the last chapter, I've made corrections. Just refresh, no extra charges will apply.)
"This is..." Makarov's face turned ashen. The injuries caused by the enemy weren't severe, but the loss of Magic Power itself caused him extreme pain.
"President... why is this happening..." Carla asked weakly.
Tears welled in her eyes; even though she had seen the 'future,' she couldn't change anything. For the first time, Carla felt regretful about her weakness.
"Don't be afraid, at least..." Seeing Carla's despair, Makarov mustered a bit of strength from somewhere, trembling as he hugged Carla to stand up, struggling to walk outside the Magic Array, "At least... I can't let you die with me!"
"President..." Carla sobbed uncontrollably, but she could do nothing.
And in Makarov's current state, he simply couldn't walk out of the Magic Array.
"That stubborn look, as expected from the one I chose. But... it's time for Fairy Tail to take its bow."
Precht activated the Magic Array without hesitation.
This incredible surge of magic power was felt by almost everyone on the island, and the intense explosion's light destroyed all the surrounding trees and rocks.
The immense power caused the island's ground to tremble again, and the members of Demon's Heart cheered; they knew it must be the President taking action.
With such a powerful magic, the enemy is doomed.
However, Precht himself was curiously turning to look in another direction.
There, Lahar held a sword, watching Precht vigilantly.
Mest, holding Carla with his left hand and carrying Makarov with his right, was gasping heavily.
This distance, escaping with one person and a cat wasn't too burdensome for him, but it was too dangerous.
The corner of his clothes had already been scorched; if he had been even half a second slower, he would have been caught in it.
Saving someone at the risk of his life at the last moment was too thrilling; Mest's heart was still pounding hard.
"It's you again." Precht had a magic called 'Eye of the Demon,' able to 'see' the scenes the guild members saw at any time.
The earlier incident where Mest used Space Magic to help Zeref escape was seen by him, and now this kid dared to prance before him again.
"Then, let's take care of this as well." With a casual wave, Precht instantly launched Amaterasu's Formula 28, leaving Mest no time to escape.
But after the explosion, they were unharmed.
In mid-air, a barrier made up of dense characters appeared, completely protecting them inside.
Lahar breathed a sigh of relief; fortunately, he had prepared in advance, otherwise, with their casting speed, Mest couldn't have run away with everyone.
"A technique?" Precht immediately recognized what kind of magic it was.
He wasn't too surprised, because he too understood a bit of these.
With that, Precht joined his index and middle fingers, and seemingly casually drew a few strokes in the air, and purplish-black characters appeared, flying towards the barrier.
Lahar's eyes widened; the characters written by the opponent blended seamlessly into his own technique?!
If the opponent could modify his technique at will, they were done for!
"Mest, hurry!" Lahar pressed a hand on Mest's shoulder.
But, after 3 seconds, Mest was shocked: "No way, we can't get out!"
"What? How is it possible, my technique is just a one-way defens—" Lahar froze, watching Precht in shock.
He thought the opponent was just opening a gap to come in, but he didn't expect, with just a few strokes, the defense technique was already rewritten into an Imprisonment Technique?
"Kids, the world is vast, and there are countless things that can restrain Space Element magic. Don't be too arrogant." Precht smiled, "But your advance preparation of the technique saved me a lot of trouble."
"To even master techniques, so this is the President of Demon's Heart..." Lahar now felt flustered, internally deeply frustrated.
Good news: Techniques are absolute, Precht's attack magic can't directly destroy the technique.
Bad news: Precht knows techniques better than he does.
This feeling of being effortlessly crushed by someone in his own forte truly didn't feel good.
Seeing Precht about to continue writing, Lahar could only grit his teeth and try to rewrite the parts altered by the opponent, attempting to negate the 'Space Element sealing' effect.
But making these small moves in front of Precht was no easy task.
Each time he had just written halfway, the opponent had already seen through his plan and prepared a technique to counter it in advance.
Makarov painfully said, "He... is a Master of Magic, knowledgeable in countless magics..."
If he were full of magic power, there might be a chance to fight, but in this situation, Makarov truly didn't know how to break the puzzle.
Precht even had spare energy to guard against Lahar's new techniques while continuing to rewrite the original technique, seemingly intending to reverse the original one-way passage.
Most troublesome of all, the Amaterasu Formula 100 Magic Array was ready to go; as soon as the technique was rewritten or vanished, the magic would immediately activate.
Lahar initially intended to write another Defense Technique inside the original technique, then figure out a way, but the gap in their skills was too great.
He feared that before finishing the new technique, the original one would be completely turned into someone else's.
"There's only one way left, prepare!" Lahar knew the risk was high, but waiting longer would only mean a slow death, they had to fight.
Exchanging glances, Lahar resolutely canceled the Defense Technique.
—Though modified, the main technique was written and powered by him, forcibly canceling it was barely possible.
But just as he expected, as soon as the technique disappeared, the Amaterasu Formula 100 Magic Array was already activated.
Lahar couldn't tell if it was Precht's reaction speed or if the array could be set with immediate trigger conditions. Either way, the opponent didn't even leave them 0.01 seconds; the magic activated together with the technique's cancellation.
All three humans and one cat were engulfed in the violent explosion.
"Whoa..."
Mest gritted his teeth, enduring the pain to activate Teleportation Magic, and the few individuals in the explosion's center all vanished. But when they reappeared in the forest, they had all lost the ability to move.
It was merely a dying struggle, Precht wasn't concerned about their escape, what was more important now was retrieving Zeref.
Without magic power, what can Mages even do?
But Azuma, that guy...
Precht saw the scene at Azuma's place with the Eye of the Demon; Demon Mira hadn't fallen without Magic Power, obviously because that guy wanted to savor the battle again.
Let him be, after all, the seven Great Mages he cultivated were all quite unique, he couldn't be bothered to correct them.
...