Chapter 61: Space Shattered
Lucy's eyes widened in shock. "What is that?"
Mirajane crossed her arms, observing carefully. "It's tremor magic. The air around Dino's body is constantly trembling at an incredible frequency. Any ghost soldier that gets close is instantly pulverized." She glanced at Lucy. "It's an indiscriminate attack field—nobody can get near him, not even allies."
Having grown up alongside Dino at Fairy Tail, Mirajane had sparred with him more than anyone else two years ago. She understood his abilities better than most.
Macao gritted his teeth, flames dancing around his fists. "Damn it! That kid's gotten so strong he doesn't even need to move anymore to be dangerous."
He incinerated a ghost soldier with a burst of flame, then spread his hands wide. "Being constantly left in the dust really stings, you know! Purple Fire Storm!" Purple flames erupted from his palms, accurately consuming over a dozen ghost soldiers in seconds.
Wakaba, Macao's longtime guildmate and friendly rival, shot him an incredulous look. "Macao, you bastard! When did you get this good? You've been training in secret, haven't you?! Smoke Barrage!"
Wakaba's smoke magic formed dozens of fists that pummeled the ghost soldiers, shattering several into dissipating fragments.
"Re-Equip: Twin Machine Guns!" Bisca materialized two heavy machine guns and opened fire on the enemy forces with devastating precision. Her magical firepower far exceeded what Macao and Wakaba could manage.
Macao sweatdropped. "Geez… the women in our guild are terrifying. Thank Mavis we've got Dino holding down the fort."
"Tch!" Jose's expression darkened as his ghost soldiers failed to even touch Dino.
Dino himself felt a pang of frustration. This scene reminded him of something from a story he'd once heard—a great battle where a legendary pirate stood his ground despite overwhelming odds. Of course, the details were different, but that warrior's power had been restrained because of hostages, just like now.
The main difference was that warrior had been old and sick, his body failing him.
Dino was young and in peak condition. Since he wielded no weapons and focused purely on magic, he'd poured everything into developing the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's abilities.
Compared to simply mimicking known techniques, Dino had innovated many applications of his own. The defensive field he'd just created was one—vibrating the air around his body to form a small-scale tremor zone.
Anything entering this field would be torn apart by the high-frequency oscillations. Still, Dino considered it somewhat wasteful. With this much power, I could've already eliminated the threat several times over.
"Levy! I'm coming for you!" Natsu landed atop the Jupiter cannon barrel and sprinted toward where his guildmate was held.
"Iron Dragon's Club!" A massive iron rod materialized and slammed into Natsu, sending him flying backward.
"Gah! What the hell?! Who are you?!"
"Fairy Tail's Fire Dragon Slayer… I've been wanting to meet you for a long time."
Natsu frowned, flames flickering around his fists. "But you're covered in bandages. I'm not interested in fighting someone who's already injured. Move aside—I've got friends to rescue!"
Gajeel was indeed wrapped in bandages across much of his body. Dino had beaten him thoroughly, and even his iron-hardened body couldn't withstand those devastating punches and kicks.
It was an unprecedented humiliation. Never in his career had Gajeel been so thoroughly defeated.
There'd been no resistance possible, and he'd clearly felt his opponent holding back. Even after treatment and recovery, this shame couldn't be healed by any medicine.
Only by defeating his opponent could he wash away this disgrace.
But right now, he didn't even have the courage to face Dino directly. He needed to defeat Fairy Tail's members first.
This fellow Dragon Slayer… I have to at least prove I'm the strongest among Dragon Slayers.
"Iron Dragon's Lance!" Gajeel's leg transformed into a sweeping iron pole, which Natsu blocked with his flame-wreathed arm.
"You wanna fight? Fine! But don't think you're getting past me to save anyone until you beat me. And after you beat me—then you can try facing Dino!"
"So Dino did this to you? No wonder you look like garbage."
"Shut up!"
Natsu and Gajeel clashed in earnest.
Meanwhile, Gray and Elfman entered the Phantom Lord castle from different entrances, each encountering their own opponents.
Gray faced Juvia, one of the Element Four representing water.
Elfman confronted Sol, the Element Four member representing earth.
"Get out of my way!"
"My name is Sol, but you may call me… Gentleman Sol." He struck a pose.
"I don't care who you are! Anyone who tries to stop me from rescuing my friends gets taken down! Beast Arm: Black Bull!"
"Oh my? With just one arm? So that rumor is true, then. I know about you—in fact, I know everything about Fairy Tail."
"You talk too damn much!" Elfman's massive fist shot toward Sol, who gracefully dodged.
"You… once had a sister, didn't you? Sand Rebellion!"
Sol exploited Elfman's momentary distraction, conjuring a sandstorm that swirled around Elfman and obscured his vision completely.
"Where are you?!"
"Rock Concerto!"
Rocks flew at Elfman from all directions, pelting his body mercilessly.
"Gah!" Elfman cried out as he was knocked backward.
"Thirty seconds until Jupiter fires!" A mechanical voice echoed throughout the area.
"It's over! Once Jupiter launches, we'll kill Dino, and the rest of you will crumble like dust!"
Elfman smirked despite his injuries. "Kill Dino? Sounds like you don't know everything after all."
"What?!" Sol's confident expression faltered.
"If Dino could be killed that easily, he wouldn't be Fairy Tail's strongest wizard."
"Ten seconds until Jupiter fires! Ten… nine… eight…"
Each countdown felt like a hammer blow to every Fairy Tail member's heart.
"Dino! Move!"
Dino called back to his guildmates calmly, "It's fine! Don't worry—this is nothing."
Jose's voice boomed across the battlefield. "Hahahaha! Don't move, Dino! Die along with your precious guild!"
"Two… one… Jupiter—FIRE!"
"WHAT—!" An enormous beam of concentrated magical energy blasted directly toward Dino's position. The sheer speed of the attack split the ocean beneath it.
Dino had already gathered his power. His eyes blazed with intensity as he raised both fists.
"TREMOR OVERLOAD!"
He slammed his fists forward into empty air.
"SHATTER!"
CRACK—CRASH—CRUNCH!
The space directly in front of Dino spiderwebbed with countless fractures, then shattered like broken glass. A nearly perfect circular void appeared—a black hole in reality itself.
The Jupiter blast plunged straight into the spatial rupture and vanished completely.
Everyone who witnessed this froze.
"What… what just happened?"