Raizel leaped to Erza's side and used Teleportation Magic to move them both to Kagura's location on the high ground.
Ultear and the others' expressions changed drastically as they suddenly realized that Ferrous Village had vanished!
A village that had clearly been there moments ago now seemed to have never existed.
From their vantage point, they could see a massive crater; buildings and vegetation had completely disappeared, leaving only bare earth behind.
Erza and the others were deeply unsettled, their emotions taking a long time to calm.
This kind of shock could only be truly understood by witnessing it firsthand.
Raizel felt the same. He had always known about Anima's existence but had never actually seen it active before.
Before long, the vortex and dark clouds in the sky slowly dissipated, and the sky gradually cleared.
Raizel knew he couldn't have intervened. If he had entered the anomaly, he would likely have been turned into a giant Lacrima crystal as well.
Even if he hadn't, he wouldn't have been able to use his Magical Power over there in Edolas.
Now that the Anima had already dissipated, it was too late to do anything about it.
Raizel looked up at the sky, feeling that the use of Anima was becoming more frequent.
Mystogan hadn't appeared here—perhaps he couldn't make it in time, or perhaps he simply didn't know about this specific breach.
"Why did the village disappear? What exactly is going on? That should be a magic circle, right?" Ultear frowned and urgently pressed Raizel for answers, her questions pouring out one after another.
"This seems to be a type of Spatial Magic. The village appears to have been absorbed or transported elsewhere." Raizel only intended to say this much.
Fortunately, the villagers had been evacuated, so at least there were no casualties.
The Council would definitely get involved.
"I've never heard of such magic. Besides, this kind of magic would surely be banned by the Council, right?" Ultear said, her brow furrowed deeply.
Raizel nodded in agreement. "Let's go back and inform Gramps. We'll have him convene a Guild Master Meeting and notify the Council to investigate this."
"Alright." Ultear and Erza nodded simultaneously.
This seemed like the best course of action.
Raizel didn't believe that the Council was unaware of this incident. He just wasn't sure why they hadn't investigated it—or perhaps they had but hadn't yet found a way to deal with it.
After all, there were still people in the Council who did practical work.
"How did you end up here?" Mirajane's voice was weak; her injuries this time were the most severe she had suffered since beginning her magic training.
"We were worried about you, so we followed," Erza, who was supporting Mirajane, quickly answered.
"Elfman, he..."
Now that Lisanna was safe, Mirajane turned her gaze toward the frozen block of ice containing Elfman and the Beast King.
Raizel comforted her. "Elfman is fine. We just need to extract him, then knock out the Beast King and perform a proper Take Over."
In such situations, there were generally two solutions.
One was to reawaken Elfman within the Beast King's body, allowing his will to continue struggling against the monster.
However, this approach wasn't very feasible—Elfman had already lost once, and Raizel didn't have much confidence that Elfman could win in a short amount of time.
The second method was to forcibly expel the possessed individual, just as Natsu had driven Macao out of the Vulcan's body in canon.
After all, the one getting hurt is the monster, so this should be the best solution.
However, Mirajane and Lisanna couldn't do it before—Mirajane could barely even use Take Over right now, and Lisanna was even less capable of it.
"But even after the Take Over, Elfman won't be able to use it immediately. The Beast King wasn't defeated by him personally, so the Beast King's soul won't acknowledge him. Moreover, the Beast King's will is stronger than Elfman's current state."
"Kagura, it's up to you." Raizel looked toward Kagura, who was standing nearby.
Kagura nodded expressionlessly.
She stood before the ice block, gripping her blade, Archenemy, tightly.
Her aura and Magic Power surged continuously. Without unsheathing the blade, she delivered a simple, unadorned slash.
Crack.
Fissures slowly appeared on the ice encasing the Beast King, gradually shattering it.
Elfman and the Beast King were separated instantly.
Elfman lost consciousness and collapsed, while the Beast King struggled to stand.
A Gravity Magic circle suddenly appeared over the Beast King, pressing it firmly to the ground.
Even an uninjured Beast King would need great effort to break free from Kagura's Gravity Magic, and in its current state, it had no chance of resisting.
It could only watch helplessly as Kagura's sheathed blade struck its face.
Thud.
It was rendered unconscious instantly.
This time, it was truly out cold.
A heavy blow like that directly to the face—no one could withstand it.
"Elf-nii, wake up!"
Lisanna hurried to Elfman's side as soon as he emerged, lifting his head and patting his cheeks.
She was a little angry—just a little—because Elfman had actually tried to throw a punch at her!
"Lisanna... Thank goodness you're okay..." Elfman's first reaction upon waking was to check if Lisanna was injured anywhere.
His eyes grew slightly moist as he vaguely recalled Lisanna standing in front of his sister and himself throwing a punch at her.
Seeing Elfman like this, Lisanna couldn't stay angry.
The last traces of her irritation quickly faded, and she tightly embraced Elfman, murmuring, "You're the one... Why are you worrying about me in this state..."
"Ouch—" Elfman gasped sharply.
He wanted to say, Lisanna, you're holding me too tight.
I'm in pain all over.
But gradually, listening to Lisanna's murmurs and feeling her slightly trembling body, Elfman's guilt-ridden expression softened.
He reached out and gently stroked Lisanna's head, exuding a tender, gentle giant vibe.
"Mira-nee, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you." Elfman, while comforting Lisanna, met Mirajane's gaze.
"No, Elfman, you did your best. Keep striving hard."
Though battered, Mirajane smiled gently at Elfman, her eyes fixed on him with pride.
She knew her brother too well—if she didn't reassure him properly, he would be overwhelmed with guilt and self-blame.
She only blamed herself for being too careless, ultimately needing her younger brother to protect her.
Elfman standing firmly in front of her was enough.
"Yes, nee-san! I'll keep working hard! I will definitely become a man who can protect you and Lisanna!"
"Can you stand up?" Raizel approached and extended a hand toward Elfman.
Seeing this, Lisanna wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, stood up, and walked to Mirajane's other side to support her.
"Of course! A real man can't say no!" Elfman nodded, then raised his only movable hand to grasp Raizel's hand, using his last bit of strength to stand up.
Raizel pointed toward the unconscious Beast King and said, "Take Over the Beast King first, but you can't use it for now. Before attempting to use it, you'd better come find me or Ultear. Even if you can't control it, we can control you."
Mirajane could actually do it too, but unless it was under special circumstances like S-class exams, she probably wouldn't have the heart to take action against Elfman if he lost control.