The Despair Emperor, Hopeless?
I might as well be Number 39: Utopia.
If I didn't know better, I'd think I transmigrated into 'Yu-Gi-Oh!'
The corners of Hope's mouth curled slightly. That "Hopeless" should be the alternate world counterpart of his original body; things were starting to get interesting.
"Stop kneeling and get up."
Hope looked at the army before him, especially the officer who was shivering in fear. Just how much of a monster was his counterpart in this world to leave such a deep psychological scar on his subordinates?
Hearing Hope's voice, the officer felt as if he had been granted a grand pardon. As he stood up, he realized his back was already soaked with sweat.
"Let's go, we're heading back."
Hope walked past the officer. "By the way, tell me about my... 'great achievements' while we're on the ship."
The officer looked at Hope's back, suddenly feeling a bit confused.
Why was the Lord Despair Emperor a bit too... approachable today?
However, as soon as the doubt arose, the officer frantically suppressed it in his heart. What if this was just part of the Despair Emperor's 'play'?
The officer followed Hope onto the airship with eager obedience. As the ship started up, he began to describe the deeds of "Hopeless" with much exaggeration.
This world was divided into two major powers.
One was the "Exceeds," revered as gods by humans. They lived in the Exceed Kingdom on the sky island "Extalia," directly above the human royal capital.
The second power was the human realm, named after the world itself: the "Kingdom of Edolas."
Because the magic power of the entire world was on the verge of exhaustion, the human King Faust used an iron-fisted approach to confiscate all "magic"—meaning magic items—in the human realm, branded opposing magic guilds as Dark Guilds, and pursued them relentlessly.
The King's monopoly on "magic" did not cause dissatisfaction; instead, it gained the support of the majority of the populace.
This was because Faust had simultaneously launched a frantic "Magic Extraction Plan," using the super-subspace magic 'Anima' to plunder magic from the parallel world, Aslant.
This caused the prestige of Aslant to reach an unprecedented height.
However, over three months ago, an ordinary boy's life was ruined after he was accidentally caught in the kingdom's pursuit of the Dark Guild "Fairy Tail."
His family died innocently, and he himself was seriously injured with little time left to live.
In despair, the boy stumbled upon an ancient magic crystal by a stroke of luck.
The ancient crystal sensed the boy's despairing emotions and converted them into powerful energy to sustain him.
Thus, the boy named Hopeless began his path of revenge, constantly exchanging the despair of others for power in the process.
In just one month, Hopeless had become incredibly strong, even crushing the kingdom's trump card, the forbidden weapon "dragon slayer armor," with overwhelming force.
Hopeless's strength was despair-inducing. The day before he reached the royal capital, King Faust, knowing he was powerless to resist, fled with his loyal subordinates and army.
From then on, the human realm changed hands.
Hopeless's despairingly powerful strength forced almost everyone to submit. He became the new King and referred to himself as the "Despair Emperor."
After becoming the ruler, Hopeless became exceptionally tyrannical.
He inherited Faust's "Magic Extraction Plan," and his high-pressure rule made life even more miserable for the people.
At the same time, he ordered the army to hunt down Faust and his subordinates, and he did not spare the Dark Guild "Fairy Tail" that had been involved in the destruction of his family.
This move forced the former enemies, Faust and "Fairy Tail," to choose cooperation, forming a resistance army to fight against the powerful Despair Emperor together.
But Hopeless treated them like a cat playing with mice, constantly driving them into desperate situations.
As Hopeless grew even stronger, he set his sights on the Exceeds, who were known as gods.
Ten days ago, Hopeless took action personally and destroyed Extalia, where the Exceeds lived.
He also defeated the resistance army that came to help the Exceeds and captured two important figures: the Fairy Tail Guild Master "Lucy Ashley" and Faust's top general "Erza Knightwalker."
—
—
"Whoa! Lucy is actually the Guild Master!"
On a remote sky island, inside a peculiar building resembling a large tree stump with a Fairy flag hanging from it, Natsu and Happy let out cries of surprise.
Wendy, holding Carla, looked awkwardly at the Natsu No. 2 across from her, who looked exactly like Natsu. "Sorry, Natsu-san's personality is quite... active..."
"Not active, he's an idiot," Carla added disdainfully.
Natsu No. 2 lowered his head, his voice soft and weak. "I really envy the other me. If I had courage like his, Lucy wouldn't have been captured trying to save me..."
Edolas and Aslant are parallel worlds. Although some people in both worlds look identical, their personalities are worlds apart.
For example, Natsu No. 2 was cowardly and loved vehicles. Although Gray No. 2 didn't have a stripping habit, he had an equally bizarre habit of wearing too many clothes, and conversely, he was the one chasing after Juvia... The location where Natsu's group of four and two cats were teleported to in Edolas happened to be the temporary base of this world's "Fairy Tail."
After explaining their identities to each other, they received warm hospitality and also learned about the massive changes that had occurred in this world.
"Don't worry! I'll help rescue your Lucy!"
Natsu threw a punch, flames seemingly igniting in his eyes. "Despair Emperor Hopless, I'm definitely going to give that bastard a piece of my mind!"
"Hmph! Ignorant brat, just with you?"
As soon as Natsu finished speaking, a white-bearded old man with a thick head of white hair walked into the guild. Behind him followed a two-meter-tall black humanoid cat wearing armor.
Natsu looked at the newcomer with dissatisfaction. Before he could talk back, Levy No. 2, acting as the temporary Guild Master of this world's "Fairy Tail," stood up.
"Faust! You old geezer, you still have the nerve to show your face here!"
"Get the hell out!"
The violent outburst left Natsu and Happy stunned.
Although they were mentally prepared after Natsu No. 2's warning, Levy No. 2's fierce appearance still shocked them.
In this world, Levy and her team were the strongest team in Fairy Tail. She herself was a brilliant magic mechanic whose teleportation devices had helped them escape countless pursuits.
If Cana No. 2 hadn't held her back, Levy No. 2's wrench would have already slammed into Faust's face.
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