"Hum!"
The Crystal Wall withstood the lightning strike and then rebounded it back.
However, such a rebounded attack was useless against Laxus—it would instead become nourishment for him.
Dragon Slayer Mages were indeed overpowered when facing enemies of the same attribute, as they could literally consume the same elemental magic as food.
Laxus absorbed the rebounded lightning, recovering some of his magic power.
Facing an opponent like Marco, he had to get serious; otherwise, there would be no chance of victory.
Laxus still acknowledged Marco's strength.
With Gildarts absent, the two of them were the strongest in Fairy Tail, and Laxus wasn't confident he could defeat Marco.
"Leave Laxus to me. The others are likely under attack as well. You two have two tasks: first, deal with the Thunder Palace issue, and second, go help the others. Don't let the Thunder God Tribe succeed."
Marco looked at Erza and Mirajane, assigning them their tasks.
The members of the Thunder God Tribe weren't here; they had gone to attack others. Marco's crows had already seen several places in Magnolia city erupting into battles.
"No problem!"
Faced with Marco's arrangement, neither Erza nor Mirajane hesitated.
They immediately agreed and then left the area, heading toward the other locations where battles were breaking out.
They trusted Marco's strength and judgment. Compared to staying here, going to help others would indeed be more effective.
Moreover, the Thunder Palace was indeed a problem that had to be resolved—they couldn't allow this magic to actually activate.
The Thunder Palace was a magic Laxus had set up in advance, set to activate automatically after thirty minutes.
This would help him conserve magic power and free his hands, allowing him to continue fighting.
Laxus wanted to defeat everyone.
He himself directly attacked the guild hall, while the members of the Thunder God Tribe attacked other members who weren't at the guild hall from the periphery.
Thirty minutes—Laxus felt that was more than enough time for them to defeat everyone in Fairy Tail.
However, Laxus hadn't expected that not many people would be at the guild hall today. Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and others weren't there, so the actions of the Thunder God Tribe members faced considerable challenges.
And the challenge he himself had to face was Marco.
Meanwhile, the battles on the periphery were quite lively.
The Thunder God Tribe's advantage lay in "surprise attacks" and catching their opponents off guard.
The opponents they faced—their guild companions—wouldn't immediately fight back.
Even after the Thunder God Tribe launched their attacks, the companions' first reaction wasn't to counterattack.
This advantage truly allowed the Thunder God Tribe members to gain the upper hand, successfully taking down several guild members.
Just Freed alone had already taken down Bisca, Alzack, Reedus, Cana, and Levy, one after another.
His abilities were indeed very suitable for ambushes.
Freed's "Rune" magic was particularly well-suited for setting traps.
"Rune Magic" is a type of barrier that imposes a rule on anyone who steps into it. If the target does not comply, they cannot leave the barrier.
This rule can also be used to strip the target of their power—for example, by restricting the use of a specific type of magic.
When the opponent is unprepared, it becomes easy to defeat them.
Elfman, the Beast King, was defeated without even being able to fight back.
The rune barrier Fried prepared for him prohibited the use of "Take Over Magic."
The moment Elfman stepped into it, he lost his abilities and was easily knocked unconscious by Fried.
Evergreen faced a similar fate.
Her "Stone Eyes" were particularly insidious—against unprepared guild members, a single glance was enough to petrify them.
She usually wore glasses, so even when people made eye contact with her, nothing happened.
But when she suddenly removed her glasses, the unprepared guild members were instantly turned to stone.
Thanks to her "Stone Eyes," Evergreen's achievements were even more terrifying than Fried's.
Juvia, Emerald, Jet, Droy, Macao, Wakaba, Joey, Gajeel, and Vijstar all fell victim to her and were now turned into stone statues.
Among the three members of the "Thunder God Tribe," Bickslow had the worst performance.
This was because the first opponent he encountered was Gray, with Lucy and Loki nearby.
Bickslow was quickly subdued by the three of them working together.
The only damage he managed to inflict was exposing Loki's true identity.
Bickslow's magic, "Human Possession," involved manipulating souls, and he possessed "Sculpting Eyes" that allowed him to see through souls.
Because of this, he had long known that Loki was not human but a Celestial Spirit.
However, since Loki had been invited to join by Marco, Bickslow had never spoken up about it.
It wasn't until this battle, in an attempt to turn the tide, that he revealed this information, hoping to affect the morale of Loki, Gray, and Lucy. In the end, he still failed to secure a victory.
"Loki... you're actually a Celestial Spirit!"
Looking at the silent Loki before her, Lucy was utterly shocked.
As a Celestial Spirit, Loki had been living in the guild for three years and was even able to fight—this was simply unbelievable!
Gray also opened his mouth, momentarily at a loss for words.
He and Loki had a good relationship, and their personalities meshed well, but he had never imagined that Loki would be a Celestial Spirit.
"That's right. I am Leo, the Celestial Spirit of the Lion constellation."
Facing the shocked Lucy and Gray, Loki candidly admitted his identity.
Since Bickslow had already exposed him, there was no point in stubbornly denying it.
Bickslow was quite authoritative in this regard—when it came to matters of the soul, he couldn't possibly be mistaken.
"My ability to exist and fight is all thanks to Marco. Otherwise, relying solely on my own dwindling magic power, I doubt I could have lasted this long." Loki explained.
In truth, both Lucy and Gray had vaguely guessed this.
The magical aura Loki had emitted during the battle was undoubtedly the familiar "Star Magic."
"Lion constellation... why haven't you returned to the Celestial Spirit World?"
Looking at Loki, Lucy asked with great curiosity.
"Is it because of Karen Lilica?"
Lucy voiced her speculation.
Both she and Gray knew that the "Lion Celestial Spirit" belonged to the late "former Blue Pegasus member" Karen Lilica.
The key to the Aries Celestial Spirit had also once been in Karen Lilica's possession.
Loki never returned to the Celestial Spirit World—was it for Karen Lilica?
To avenge her? Not going home until he got revenge?
"No, it's just because I can't go back."
Hearing Lucy's question, Loki's lips twitched.
It was true that he couldn't return because of Karen Lilica, but unfortunately, this wasn't some beautiful story about "loyalty" or "friendship."
He was merely a sinner being punished for violating his contract.
"Can't go back?!"
At Loki's answer, Lucy couldn't help but widen her eyes.
This was the first time she had ever heard of a Celestial Spirit being unable to return to the "Celestial Spirit World."
"What did you do?"
However, Lucy was, after all, a true Celestial Spirit enthusiast.
She understood more about Celestial Spirits than anyone else, and immediately, she realized that Loki must have done something wrong—unlike Gray beside her, who couldn't grasp this layer of meaning.
"It's a long story..."
Faced with Lucy's confusion, Loki sighed.
He wasn't very willing to bring it up.
---------
Read 50 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator