Chapter 386: Nirvana, Unsealed!
While the Oración Seis generals were terrifying in their own right—and those who defied them rarely met a good end—the sheer, suffocating terror radiating from the golden mage standing before the dark army was on a completely different level. The sheer weight of his magical pressure far exceeded anything they had ever felt from the Oración Seis.
Dozens of dark mages in the front lines instinctively stumbled backward, their faces pale with sheer panic.
"Don't panic! Look at our numbers! There's over a thousand of us and barely twenty of them! We will crush them!" one of the dark guild masters roared, trying desperately to rally his plunging morale.
"Remember the sheer terror of the Oración Seis! Do any of you truly believe you have a way out of this if we run?!"
Hearing the grim reminder, the fear on the retreating mages' faces vanished, instantly replaced by feral desperation. They knew all too well what the Oración Seis did to cowards and deserters. They truly had no retreat. It was either fight and win, or die.
"The Oración Seis are already—!"
Lucy started to yell out the truth, but Erza's armored hand clamped firmly over her mouth, muffling her words.
"Don't tell them," Erza whispered sharply into Lucy's ear. "If they know the Oración Seis have already been defeated, they'll instantly scatter and run for their lives. Hunting down over a thousand dark mages hiding in this massive forest would be an absolute nightmare. Since they've all conveniently gathered here in one spot, we'll wipe them all out at once."
Lucy's eyes went wide with shock. Erza gave her a serious nod, confirming that she hadn't misheard.
Swallowing hard, Lucy nodded back in understanding.
Erza lowered her hand, drawing her sword once more and aiming it squarely at the dark army.
Noah had finally reached the front lines. The golden magic violently erupting from his body physically forced the front rows of the dark army to stumble backward.
Seeing Roubaul again, and knowing that he would soon have to say a permanent goodbye to the old spirit, had put Noah in an incredibly foul mood. The fact that this army of dark mages had recklessly charged in to pick a fight made them the absolute perfect outlet for his pent-up frustration.
"Gravity Magic!"
Noah casually raised his right hand. A colossal, translucent magic circle instantly materialized in the sky above the dark army.
The moment the glyph spun to life, an impossible, crushing weight slammed down on the entire forest clearing. In the blink of an eye, over a thousand dark mages were violently flattened against the earth, unable to move a single muscle.
"Attack! Attack him now!" one of the guild masters screamed from the dirt.
The dark mages struggled desperately, veins popping on their foreheads as they tried to push themselves up, but the overwhelming gravity pinned them down like insects under a boot. No matter how hard they fought, they couldn't rise an inch.
Realizing they couldn't stand, some of the more desperate dark mages simply gave up on moving and began desperately firing off whatever offensive spells they could cast while plastered to the ground.
A chaotic barrage of multi-colored magic rocketed toward Noah. Seeing the incoming attacks, the Alliance members instantly lunged forward to intercept.
However, before they could even cast their spells, a brilliant golden barrier materialized around Noah, with a massive, radiant Fairy Tail crest glowing proudly on its surface.
The desperate magical barrage slammed into the golden shield and harmlessly dissipated, entirely unable to even scratch the surface.
Noah then brought his hands together in front of his chest. Pressing his palms parallel to each other, one angled up and the other angled down, a blindingly bright sphere of concentrated golden light ignited between his hands.
"What incredible magical power!" Jura gasped in sheer shock. Even from a distance, he could feel the absolutely terrifying density of magic pooling into that single golden sphere.
The rest of the non-Fairy Tail Alliance members stared in silent awe. They could tell Noah was preparing a devastating spell, but having never seen it before—and not being members of his guild—they felt it would be rude to ask what it was.
"What magic is that?" Lucy asked, voicing the question everyone else was thinking.
Natsu, Gray, Wendy, and the others all turned to Ultear with curious expressions, hoping she could explain.
"That is a Super Magic... Fairy Law," Ultear answered calmly, seeing their eager faces. There was no need to keep it a secret; it was a spell meant to strike absolute terror into the hearts of their enemies.
"Super Magic? Fairy Law?" Gray repeated, testing the foreign words.
"Super Magic refers to spells that possess power far surpassing conventional magic. They are considered the absolute pinnacle of magical classification," Ultear explained. "Only mages with truly monstrous magical reserves can even attempt to cast them. If an ordinary mage tried to use one, they would instantly suffer from fatal magical deficiency."
She paused for a moment before continuing. "Fairy Law is one of Fairy Tail's Three Great Fairy Magics. It is an absolute judgment spell. It calls down a sacred, holy light that obliterates darkness. The most terrifying aspect is that it only strikes targets the caster truly perceives as an enemy in their heart. It's a legendary magic, one of the very few Super Magics known to exist."
"That's incredible!" Lucy gasped, staring at Noah in utter awe.
Natsu, Gray, and the rest of the Fairy Tail mages mirrored her shock, but their faces quickly split into massive, arrogant grins. Seeing one of their own wielding such legendary power filled them with immense pride.
"Mr. Jura, can you use Super Magic?" Yuka asked, turning to the Wizard Saint.
"No, I cannot. While I have read about Super Magic in ancient texts, this is the very first time I have ever witnessed it with my own eyes," Jura answered instantly, shaking his head.
Hearing one of the Ten Wizard Saints admit he couldn't wield such power made the rest of the Alliance fully realize just how impossibly rare and terrifying Fairy Law truly was.
Having finished charging the spell, Noah slammed his palms together. A blinding shockwave of holy light erupted from his hands.
Any remaining spells the pinned dark mages managed to fire off were instantly vaporized by the sheer intensity of the light before they could even get close to Noah.
"Fairy Law... Activate!"
Two tiny, intricate golden magic circles materialized directly in front of Noah's eyes. Simultaneously, a gargantuan golden magic circle expanded across the sky, completely blanketing the battlefield, with the Fairy Tail crest glowing brilliantly in the center.
The massive glyph pulsed once, then violently contracted and vanished.
In its place, an endless, blinding tide of holy light erupted from Noah's body, completely drowning the entire world in its brilliance. It was as if a second sun had suddenly ignited in the middle of the forest.
Under the absolute judgment of the holy light, nothing could hide.
The Alliance members stood directly in the blast radius, but felt nothing more than a warm, comforting glow. However, the moment the holy light washed over the dark mages, they screamed in agony as their dark magic was forcibly purged from their bodies. Within seconds, every single dark mage suffered severe internal injuries and lost consciousness.
After several long moments, the blinding holy light slowly faded away.
When the Alliance could finally see again, the entire dark army of over a thousand mages lay completely unconscious on the ground.
"So strong..." Lucy trembled, staring at the sea of defeated enemies. To think that over a thousand mages had been instantly incapacitated by a single spell... it was utterly beyond comprehension.
"That was amazing! Noah! Fight me right now!" Natsu cheered, his blood boiling with excitement after witnessing such an overwhelming display of power.
"Yeah, yeah. Next time," Noah replied, casually waving Natsu off without even looking back.
Hearing Noah agree, Natsu's face lit up. He immediately began visualizing a scenario where he stood victorious over Noah's battered body, bursting into a fit of arrogant, victorious laughter.
"Yeah, whatever is happening in your head right now is never going to actually happen," Gray deadpanned without missing a beat.
"Aye!" Happy agreed instantly.
"You wanna go, you damn droopy-eyed freak?!" Natsu roared, instantly pivoting his aggression toward Gray.
"Bring it on, you squinty-eyed bastard!" Gray snapped right back.
Unsurprisingly, the two hotheads immediately lunged at each other, tumbling into a furious brawl.
The rest of the Fairy Tail members instinctively took a few steps back, automatically giving the two idiots enough space to fight without getting caught in the crossfire.
The non-Fairy Tail Alliance members initially stepped forward, intending to break up the fight. But seeing the rest of Fairy Tail completely ignore them and casually watch the brawl, they quickly realized this was standard procedure. Following their lead, the Alliance members simply stood by and watched the chaotic brawl unfold.
Having unleashed a massive Super Magic on a literal army of dark mages, Noah felt a massive weight lift off his chest. The lingering anger that had been boiling inside him had finally subsided.
Walking forward, Noah used his spatial magic to effortlessly gather all of the unconscious dark mages and stack them neatly in a nearby clearing. With a quick wave of his hand, he erected a specialized containment barrier around them. Not only would it keep the dark mages unconscious, but it would also prevent any external forces from interfering or attacking them while they were defenseless.
They would remain perfectly secured until the Magic Council arrived to take them into custody.
With the cleanup fully complete, Noah clapped his hands together and turned back to the Alliance.
"Alright. We can finally go take care of Nirvana."
Hearing Noah's voice, Erza stepped forward and delivered a swift, brutal punch to the tops of both Natsu and Gray's heads, instantly ending their brawl before dragging them back to the group.
Noah raised his hand, and the familiar sensation of Spatial Magic washed over the entire Alliance. In the blink of an eye, the entire group was teleported deep into the heart of the Worth Woodsea. Noah made sure to bring the sealed Oración Seis generals along as well; leaving them completely unsupervised, even sealed, was far too risky.
The group reappeared in a dense grove of bizarre, jet-black trees. A thick, unsettling black mist clung to the ground.
In the center of the grove stood a single, massive tree, dwarfing all the others. Thick, heavy iron chains were wrapped tightly around its trunk, and the entire tree pulsed with an eerie, corrupt purple light.
"Whoa... these trees are actually black!" Gray said, reaching out to touch one of the trunks in disbelief.
"So gross..." Natsu and Wendy both groaned simultaneously, their Dragon Slayer senses recoiling violently against the foul, stagnant magical atmosphere.
The rest of the Alliance stared at the unnerving grove with grave expressions.
Roubaul and the other Nirvit descendants stared at the twisted landscape, profound sorrow etched into their ancient features.
Without saying a word, Noah led the group directly toward the massive, glowing tree bound in chains.
"Is this tree Nirvana?" Natsu asked, leaning in close. His curiosity getting the better of him, he reached out to touch the purple bark, only for Lucy to quickly yank his arm back.
"Don't touch random things! What if you trigger a trap or something?!" Lucy scolded him frantically.
Denied his curiosity, Natsu huffed and dropped his arm, but continued to stare at the massive tree with intense interest.
"No, this tree isn't Nirvana. This is simply the physical seal keeping Nirvana contained," Noah clarified. "Before I completely undo the seal, I need to cast that protective enchantment I promised, to ensure none of you fall victim to Nirvana's influence."
Everyone nodded in agreement. They had already discussed this, and they were more than happy to receive any protection Noah was willing to offer.
Noah raised his hand and cast a targeted, high-level enchantment over every single person present—excluding the unconscious Oración Seis generals.
A shimmering golden barrier, bearing the Fairy Tail crest, briefly enveloped each member of the Alliance before fading into their skin, leaving behind a subtle, warm magical signature.
With the mental wards securely in place, Noah turned his attention back to the massive tree.
Just as he was about to begin the unsealing process, a series of groans echoed from the ground behind them.
"Is this... the sealed location of Nirvana?"
"This... this is our future!"
"I smell an incredible amount of money... oh yes..."
The Oración Seis generals—excluding the permanently crippled Brain—were slowly beginning to regain consciousness.
The Alliance members instantly dropped into defensive stances, glaring warily at the fallen dark mages.
"Don't worry about them. The magical seals I placed on them are far beyond their ability to break. They can't do anything," Noah assured the group calmly.
Given everything Noah had just accomplished, his words carried absolute authority. The Alliance members visibly relaxed, dropping their guard.
"You guys can give up on getting your hands on Nirvana. We're going to destroy it right now," Lucy boldly declared, staring down the dark generals.
"What?!" The generals gasped in unified horror.
"It can make us faster! You can't destroy it!" Racer shouted frantically.
"That is our future! You have no right to destroy it!" Cobra yelled, struggling against his magical bindings.
"Think of all the money it's worth! It could make us unimaginably wealthy!" Hoteye cried out, tears of genuine pain streaming down his face.
"You fools are going to destroy such magnificent power?! With that magic, we could have finally plunged this miserable world into absolute chaos!" Midnight shrieked, his face twisting in utter agony at the thought of losing such a weapon.
"No... wait! You can't destroy Nirvana! The Nirvit themselves could only seal it away! It's impossible to destroy!" Midnight suddenly realized, screaming desperately at Noah.
Noah completely ignored his frantic rambling.
"I'm actually really curious. What kind of magic is Nirvana, exactly?" Lucy asked, turning back to Noah. The rest of the Fairy Tail mages mirrored her curiosity.
"Patience. You'll understand very soon," Noah smiled mysteriously.
Without further delay, Noah stepped directly up to the massive, purple-glowing tree and pressed his right hand firmly against the bark.
Instantly, layer upon layer of complex, ancient magical arrays illuminated the surface of the tree. Under Noah's precise manipulation, the intricate seals began to rapidly unravel, one by one.
The corrupt purple light pulsing from the tree abruptly shifted to a blinding, pure white. A colossal pillar of brilliant white light erupted from the ancient trunk, piercing straight through the canopy and shooting high into the heavens.
The sheer concussive force of the immense magical pressure released by the unsealing forced the Alliance members to stagger backward.
Everyone stared in absolute awe at the towering pillar of pure white magic.
However, their awe quickly turned to horror. Disgusting, tar-like black mist began rapidly seeping out from the surrounding soil and the twisted black trees. The foul darkness slithered through the air, violently aggressively latching onto the white pillar and merging into it.
Within seconds, the pure white pillar was entirely corrupted, transforming into an ominously dark, swirling pillar of jet-black magic.
"What in the world is that?!" Lucy shrieked. It was blatantly obvious that the black mist was incredibly malevolent. Watching it directly infect and corrupt the pillar of light was deeply unnerving.
"This is merely the initial phase of the unsealing," Noah said calmly, turning back to the group as the dark pillar continued to churn.
Since the final unsealing process would take a few minutes to fully complete, Noah decided to use the time to properly explain the horrifying reality of Nirvana to the group.
"The ability to completely invert light and darkness—that is the true power of the magic known as Nirvana," Noah stated gravely.
"Inverting light and darkness?" Natsu asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"Indeed. However, that is the power it exhibits in its final, fully awakened stage. The very first stage of unsealing triggers this specific phenomenon: the Ascension of Dark Light—the black pillar you see right behind me," Noah explained, pointing a thumb at the churning column of darkness.
"When this dark light erupts, anyone standing on the precipice between light and dark—anyone harboring intense, unresolved negative emotions within their heart—will have their moral alignment violently inverted. Those who walk in the light but carry deep darkness within them will instantly plummet into absolute evil."
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