Chapter 183: Mobile City
"What is that beam of light...?"
Wendy Marvell stared blankly at the pillar of black light erupting in the distance. It pierced the sky like a spear of pure obsidian, connecting the tainted earth to the darkened clouds above. The sheer malevolence radiating from it made her small shoulders tremble involuntarily. It wasn't just magic; it felt like the concentrated essence of despair itself.
"Look over there!" Carla cried out, pointing a trembling paw towards the surrounding forest. "Something is flowing out of those creepy black trees... it's like the forest's life force is being sucked directly into that beam of light! What on earth is going on in this place?"
The atmosphere was suffocating. The air vibrated with a low, humming frequency that grated against their eardrums.
"Could it be... that 'Nirvana' is inside that beam of light?" Carla's voice dropped to a whisper, realizing the gravity of the situation. "If so, does that mean the enemy has already found it?! The seal has been broken?"
Although Carla didn't fully understand the ancient mechanics of Nirvana, her precognitive instincts were screaming. Such a terrifying, chaotic fluctuation of magic power could only indicate one thing: a catastrophe was imminent.
"Ren-nii... what should we do now?"
Wendy turned to the young man beside her, her eyes wide with anxiety. In this overwhelming situation, she found herself naturally looking to him as her anchor.
Ren stood watching the pillar of darkness with a calm, analytical gaze. The chaotic winds ruffled his hair, but his expression remained unbothered, contrasting sharply with the panic of the two smaller figures beside him.
He smiled faintly, a confident expression designed to soothe their fears. "It's alright. Don't worry about the light. I'll handle 'Nirvana.' Carla, take Wendy a little further away from my position. You can also move to regroup with Natsu and the others if you want."
"Eh? But..." Wendy hesitated, clutching her dress.
"Go," Ren urged gently.
In truth, Ren was at his absolute strongest when he operated alone.
He was a variable that existed outside the standard logic of this world. When fighting solo, he could unleash his full arsenal—wide-range bombardment, destructive spatial distortions, and lethal system skills—without needing to calculate safety zones for his allies.
If he fought alongside others, his power was inevitably shackled. He would have to hold back to prevent his teammates from being caught in the crossfire of his devastating attacks. For example, during the initial skirmish with the Oración Seis, if he had been alone, he could have simply expanded his Domain or utilized a high-tier Ninjutsu to wipe out the entire area instantly.
That was precisely why, when Lucy had suggested splitting up into teams earlier, Ren hadn't offered a counter-opinion. For standard Mages, forming a party covered individual weaknesses and increased survival rates. But for a 'Player' like him with a System, teammates often functioned more as limiters than force multipliers.
"Ren-nii..." Wendy bit her lip, looking torn. "Although I'm not good at fighting, I can use various support magic! I can increase your speed, your strength, and even heal wounds!"
Wendy thought Ren was simply worried about her safety and was trying to push her away to protect her. She desperately wanted to prove her worth, to show that she wasn't just a burden to be carried.
Ren looked at the determined glint in the young Sky Dragon Slayer's eyes and smiled genuinely. He reached out and patted Wendy's head, ruffling her blue hair.
"I know, Wendy. And your magic is incredible," Ren reassured her. "But right now, you won't need to fight these guys directly. Everyone else from the alliance will surely rush towards that light. If anyone gets injured in the chaos, I need you to be ready to treat them. That is a role only you can fill."
Ren was not patronizing her. As a person who understood the mechanics of 'Games' and 'Parties', he knew exactly how broken Wendy's potential was.
In the terms of the MOBA games he played in his past life—like League of Valor or DOTA—a team composition was useless without a Support. A skilled ADC (Attack Damage Carry) combined with a god-tier Support could absolutely crush an entire enemy team of five.
Wendy was a Super Support in the making. She was a holy trinity of buffs: Attack enhancement (Vernier), Defense enhancement (Ile Arms), and high-tier Healing/Cleanse. She was a force multiplier. Ren naturally wouldn't underestimate her role; he valued it highly. But for this specific phase—the destruction of a super-weapon—he needed speed and unrestricted power.
"Okay!"
Wendy nodded obediently, her cheeks flushing slightly at the praise. The tension in her shoulders relaxed. Although it was her first time meeting Ren, she felt he was incredibly kind and approachable. He didn't treat her like a child, but like a reliable comrade. He felt... like a true big brother.
Carla, hovering beside them with her wings, looked at Wendy with a deadpan expression. She twitched her whiskers and thought, 'She's completely won over... Wendy looks like a kitten that Ren has just tamed. Honestly, this girl is too trusting.'
Meanwhile, beneath the pillar of darkness.
"Oh, oh, oh! Brain, is this that magic?"
Cobra was the first to arrive at the clearing. He slid down from the back of his giant, purple winged snake, Cubellios. He looked up at the swirling vortex of dark energy, a savage, predatory grin stretching across his face. He could hear the magic screaming.
"You're here, Cobra? That's right!"
Brain stood before the pillar, his face illuminated by the eerie violet and black glow. The markings on his face seemed to pulse in rhythm with the pillar. "This is 'Nirvana,' but it is merely the awakening phase. It has just been unsealed. It is not yet in its true form."
"True form? What's its true form? I don't care about shapes, I can already smell the strong scent of money! This magic... it smells like a fortune!!"
Hoteye appeared from the shadows of the twisted trees. His blocky face was distorted with greed, and his eyes practically turned into symbols of Jewel coins as he stared at the pillar of light. To him, this wasn't just magic; it was the ultimate payday.
"Don't always talk about money, Richard. It makes you seem so materialistic and vulgar," a sultry voice chided.
Angel floated down gracefully, her white dress fluttering like feathers. She landed softly, looking at the ominous light with a twisted sense of reverence. "The true meaning of this magic is its ability to make darkness rise and light collapse. It is the birth of a new world order."
She scanned the gathering of their guild members. "Huh? Where's Racer? Isn't he always the first to arrive? He prides himself on being the fastest, doesn't he?"
Angel looked around the clearing, expecting to see the speedster leaning against a rock, tapping his foot impatiently. But the forest was empty of his presence.
Brain's face darkened instantly. A heavy, suffocating shadow fell over his eyes. "Racer... he will not be joining us. He has already been killed."
"What?!"
"Racer was killed?! By whom?!"
The members of the Oración Seis froze. The arrogant atmosphere that usually surrounded the dark guild shattered. Racer wasn't a weakling. His 'Slowing Magic' made him nearly invincible in single combat. It was difficult for anyone to even touch him, let alone kill him.
"Who else could it be?" Brain hissed, his voice dripping with venom and suppressed rage. "Of course, it's that monster... Ren!"
"Ren..."
A cloud of gloom fell over their faces. The name hung in the air like a curse. They remembered the young man from the initial encounter—the one who moved differently, who looked at them not with fear, but with calculation. The members of Oración Seis were roughly comparable in strength to one another. If Ren could kill Racer, it logically followed that he could kill any of them.
"Racer will not have died in vain," Brain declared, clenching his staff until his knuckles turned white. "I will bear this hatred! I will completely destroy Fairy Tail! I will use the power of 'Nirvana' to make him personally witness the destruction of everything he holds dear, and then I will crush him!"
At this exact moment, the phenomenon shifted.
The black pillar of light, which had been sucking in the darkness of the forest, suddenly inverted. The inky blackness bleached out in a nanosecond, replaced by a blinding, holy white light that pierced the heavens.
"This is..."
Everyone shielded their eyes, confused by the sudden shift in polarity. The darkness didn't disappear; it was converted.
Brain's face broke into a manic, triumphant smile. "It is time! It's fully activated!"
He spread his arms wide, embracing the cataclysm.
"Awaken!!! Nirvana!!!"
"Show your true form to the world!!!"
Brain shouted the activation command, pouring his magic into the seal.
Rumble! ! !
A shockwave of white light exploded outwards. The ground beneath their feet didn't just shake; it groaned in agony. The laws of physics seemed to break. Gravity reversed abruptly.
"Ahhhhh!"
"Whoaahhh!"
Many of the dark mages screamed involuntarily as they were lifted off their feet, floating helplessly in the air as rocks and debris rose around them.
"Oh oh oh oh oh!!! I hear it!!! I hear it clearly!!!" Cobra clutched his head, his enhanced hearing picking up a sound that no one else could—a deep, resonant frequency of destruction that sounded like a choir of screams. "Our future!!! The sound of the light collapsing!!!"
Immediately after, the earth tore apart.
Centered around the pillar of light, the geography of the forest was rewritten. Massive stone structures erupted from the ground. Huge, mechanical legs, like those of a gigantic octopus, rose from the earth and began to sway, shaking off the dirt of centuries. It looked like a demon god waking from a slumber of four hundred years.
Everyone, friend and foe alike, was stunned by this sight.
"What's going on—?!"
"The ground over there... it's rising!"
"Waaahhh!"
Debris rained down from the rising legs, scaring everyone into screaming and dodging the falling boulders.
A short while later, the dust settled. A gigantic, mobile fortress, shaped like a distorted octopus carrying a glorious ancient city on its back, loomed above the endless sea of trees. It cast a shadow that swallowed the forest below.
"Finally... finally got it!!!"
Brain stood on the central platform of the risen city, looking down at the world like a god.
"The ultimate weapon to destroy light, the super anti-magic—Nirvana!!!"
"Unity and trust, these most powerful weapons of the lawful guilds, are now powerless against the inversion of morality!!! Hahahahaha!!!"
Brain shouted excitedly, his laughter echoing across the forest, amplified by the magic of the city.
The other members of Oración Seis were also incredibly excited. The sheer scale of the weapon erased their earlier fear of Ren.
"Finally got it!! Brain!! Finally got Nirvana!! How amazing, this is the legacy of the Ancients!" Cobra shouted, stroking the scales of his giant snake. "Cubellios, look, isn't this impressive? We are standing on top of the world!"
Hoteye's eyes gleamed with fanaticism. "Money! Money! So much money!! Countless money is buried in these stones!!"
Angel clasped her hands together, her face flushed with ecstasy. "Are our wishes... about to come true? A world where angels can fly without being hunted?"
Brain waved his hand, dismissing their petty individual desires. "Look, my comrades, this vast world before us. This ancient city... this is Nirvana's true form. As long as we are in this King's Chamber, we can move this city anywhere I desire."
"Move? Where do you want this thing to go?" Cobra asked, tilting his head. "Fairy Tail?"
Several people looked at Brain. Fairy Tail was the number one Mage Guild in Fiore, and now some even called it the strongest Mage Guild on the entire Ishgar continent. Destroying Fairy Tail would deal a heavy, fatal blow to the lawful guilds and the Magic Council.
"Fairy Tail needs to be dealt with, undoubtedly. But it's not the top priority," Brain said, his eyes narrowing as he looked towards the horizon. "The first guild... you could call it the starting point of light. The origin of the annoyance that binds the alliance. Once it's destroyed, no one will be able to stop us."
He slammed his staff onto the control mechanism.
"Advance!!! Ancient City!!!"
"Let my darkness become 'Dawn'!!!"
Rumble—!!!
The giant ancient city's legs began to lift, crashing down onto the forest floor with earth-shattering steps. It started to move, a juggernaut of destruction marching towards its target.
Just then.
"Whoosh—!"
A high-pitched sound of air being torn apart cut through the rumbling of the city. A beam of emerald-green energy, concentrated and deadly, streaked across the sky and landed squarely on one of Nirvana's legs.
Boom—!!!!
The explosion rocked the giant structure, signaling the beginning of the counter-attack.
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