Chapter 437: The Truth
Before the gorgeously dressed female cat could even speak, the surrounding cats, who were still pinned to the ground by Noah, began shouting loudly:
"What are you talking about?!"
"How dare you speak to the Queen like that!"
"You are nothing but lowly humans!"
"Are you intending to rebel against the Exceeds?!"
"You humans clearly have no idea of Her Majesty's power!"
"You will definitely pay for this today!"
"You will witness Her Majesty's magic right now!"
"Your Majesty, please punish them quickly!"
"Lady Queen! Lady Queen!"
The cats pinned to the ground cast fervent gazes toward their Queen, their expressions filled with absolute fanaticism.
"Is this the Queen of the Exceeds?" Wendy and the girls whispered as they looked at the regally dressed female cat before them.
Happy and Carla also looked at the female cat curiously.
At this moment, the other party seemed to sense something and turned her head to look at Carla.
Carla's eyes met hers in mid-air, and Carla instantly froze.
She felt an indescribable sensation coming from the cat in front of her, a feeling she had never experienced before in her life.
"What is wrong, Carla?" Wendy asked quietly with concern, noticing the expression on Carla's face.
"N-Nothing," Carla snapped back to reality and shook her head at Wendy, Meredy, and the others who were looking at her.
The Queen on the other side also withdrew her gaze, closing her eyes first to steady her emotions.
Nadi had just explained everything that had happened, so she was well aware of the situation here. The fact that she and the elders beside her had suddenly appeared here was clearly the doing of the human male standing opposite them.
It was obvious that his attitude towards them was still somewhat merciful. After all, if he had the ability to teleport their group of cats from deep within the castle all the way out here in an instant, doing anything else to them would be a breeze. However, he had only used this ability after being provoked, which meant he was already being extremely lenient.
She knew that the danger facing the Exceeds right now was not just the impending collision of the floating island, but also the enraged man and woman standing before them. The other party had kindly come to warn them of incoming danger, only to be treated with hostility and abuse, which was exactly why they were so angry.
Opening her eyes, she looked at Noah and spoke with a sincere tone:
"Could you please release them first? I will give you a proper explanation."
Noah did not say anything after hearing this, but the heavy pressure pinning down the surrounding cats vanished, allowing them to finally stand up.
However, out of respect for the Queen, they only shifted from lying flat to kneeling, keeping their heads bowed low, not daring to look directly at the Queen.
"Everyone... please raise your heads. And please, listen to me calmly."
The Queen cast her gaze downward, her voice echoing through the area.
Many of the cats quietly raised their heads upon hearing the Queen's words.
"Why would Lady Queen suddenly appear in a place like this?" one cat whispered.
"The Queen must have used her magic to know what was happening here, so she arrived in a flash! Now she is definitely going to unleash incredible magic to punish these people..." another cat whispered excitedly.
"Shh! Be quiet!" another cat quickly hushed him as his voice grew louder.
Seeing the behavior of these cats, the fury in Sorano's heart unknowingly dissipated quite a bit, and a faint smile even appeared on her face.
"You were the one who teleported the Queen and the others here, yet they actually think it was the Queen's magic," she whispered to Noah.
Noah nodded, his own anger having also subsided significantly.
"Extalia is now on the brink of destruction. This is a fate that cannot be defied. Therefore, I have made a decision," the Queen announced.
The ministers behind her were startled by her words, raising their heads in shock to look at the Queen's back.
Just as they were about to speak, they noticed Noah and the others in front of the Queen, as well as the island hurtling towards them in the distance. Instantly, they could not utter a single word, only letting out helpless sighs.
"She is going to annihilate all the humans!" one cat said excitedly.
"Hey! Listen quietly!" a nearby cat quickly stopped its excited companion.
At that moment, the Queen began to take off her gorgeous, regal clothing.
"W-What are you doing... Your Majesty..." the surrounding cats gasped in shock upon seeing the Queen's actions.
The Queen did not stop. As she undressed, she stated, "I have resolved to reveal the entire truth."
She removed all of her extravagant clothes and accessories, letting them fall to the ground until she was left in only a plain, ordinary outfit.
"Just as you can see, I... am merely an ordinary Exceed. I am neither a Queen nor a god. I am just an Exceed, exactly like all of you," the Queen said with her head bowed and her hands resting in front of her.
"How can this be?!" The surrounding cats were all struck with disbelief, and Wendy and the girls also gasped in shock.
Happy and Carla were left completely stunned.
"I do not possess the power to fight against humans..." As she spoke, wings emerged from her back, but she only had one single wing.
"Just as everyone can see, I only have one wing. For an Exceed, wings are the symbol of magic power. One must have a complete pair of wings to unleash their full magic. My magic is incredibly weak. I am truly so sorry for keeping this a secret from everyone for so long!"
The Queen kept her head bowed, speaking with absolute sincerity.
The surrounding cats, as well as Wendy and the others, listened to the Queen's words with expressions of pure shock.
"Everyone, I am truly sorry. Everything is my fault. Please do not direct your resentment at the people here. If you are angry, direct it all at me. Everyone here has been deceived by me; they are completely ignorant of the truth," the Queen said, looking at Noah and the others with an incredibly earnest tone.
With that said, she bowed her head deeply.
"What does she mean by that?" Meredy asked, a bit confused.
"No... We, the elders who fabricated the existence of a 'Queen', are the ones who must bear the true responsibility," one of the elders beside her spoke up.
"We are an incredibly weak race. A long time ago, we constantly suffered cruel treatment at the hands of humans. Therefore, in order to protect ourselves, we tricked humanity into believing that we possessed overwhelming power. Consequently, all Exceeds regained their confidence. Even the citizens of Extalia themselves came to believe that Exceeds possessed the power of gods," another elder continued.
"Though we claimed it was divine power, it was merely a bluff orchestrated by the few Exceeds who knew the truth. However, the humans who initially doubted us eventually began to fear the power of God. For example, the so-called 'management of humans', which claimed we could dictate who lived and died among humanity, was actually entirely based on hindsight. We merely claimed responsibility for events after they had already occurred. We cannot govern human lives, nor do we possess the power to do so," yet another elder elaborated.
"However, there was one exception. Shagotte possesses a slight ability to peer into the future and foresee a person's death. Utilizing this, we tricked everyone into believing that those people were killed as a result of the Queen's judgment," an elder confessed.
"Noah, does that mean Carla is..." Sorano had clearly caught onto a critical piece of information in the elder's words, and she hurriedly whispered to Noah.
"Mhm, do not say it out loud. What you are guessing is very likely the truth," Noah shook his head, cutting off Sorano's next words.
Sorano nodded in understanding. She glanced at Carla, then back at the Exceed Queen, Shagotte, and let out a gentle sigh.
"That is a lie..."
"I don't accept this..."
"Her Majesty the Queen is God..."
"Lady Queen, please annihilate the humans quickly..."
Hearing Shagotte's words, the surrounding cats began to cry out in agony. They completely refused to believe what they were hearing.
Shagotte and the elders behind her merely kept their heads bowed, offering no response.
"That is sophistry!" Carla suddenly exclaimed furiously.
"Carla..." Wendy and the others looked at Carla with deep concern, while Shagotte raised her head in surprise to look at her.
"Whether you have power or not, you still issued the order to assassinate my comrade! That is an indisputable fact!" Carla shouted.
"Shagotte never issued such an order! It must have been humans exploiting the Queen's existence who did such a thing..." the elders quickly waved their hands, fervently denying the claim.
"Wrong! You implanted bizarre memories into my head, ordering me to eliminate the Dragon Slayers! This started before I was even born!" Carla yelled.
After saying that, she gasped for air. Exposing the massive secret she had kept hidden in her heart, which had placed a tremendous burden on her, left her highly emotional.
"Carla..." Hearing Carla's words, Wendy and the rest were absolutely shocked.
They finally understood why Carla had been so deeply troubled for so long, refusing to say a word no matter how much they asked. So this was the truth behind it all.
"Eliminate the Dragon Slayers... which means Natsu..." Happy fell into a profound state of shock as well. Was he originally supposed to kill his best friend, Natsu?
"That is..." Shagotte was just about to explain when Nadi sprinted out from the side. Waving his right arm non-stop, he shouted, "N-No... No, no... that is not true!! It is a long story, and there is a very deep reason behind it!"
"No matter what reason there is, this is the one thing I will absolutely never forgive!" Carla yelled, cutting him off.
"Carla, let's put that matter aside for now..." Meredy whispered to Carla. She had certainly not forgotten that a massive island was currently hurtling toward them. Determining who was right and wrong could wait until later.
Clang!
Shagotte spotted a sword lying on the ground nearby. She picked it up and tossed it directly in front of Carla.
"Lady Carla is right... You are guilty of absolutely nothing, yet I forced you to bear the most agonizing memories. Please, execute my punishment with your own hands. Only you, who love both humans and Exceeds alike, hold the right to do so."
With that, she dropped to one knee and bowed her head deeply.
"Lady Queen!"
"Lady Queen!!"
"Waaaaahh! Lady Queen!!!" The surrounding cats burst into tears of anguish upon hearing Shagotte's words. Watching Shagotte's actions, tears cascaded down their faces.
Carla stared at the sword in front of her, her thoughts unreadable.
"Alright, do not forget what I told you before. The matter between you and Queen Shagotte can be discussed later. You are far too emotional about this issue right now, and you need to calm down so you can realize the details you've missed. Don't we have a much more pressing matter at hand right now?" Noah walked over to Carla, crouched down, and spoke to her softly.
Hearing Noah's words, Carla nodded silently.
Seeing this, Wendy and the others breathed a sigh of relief. They had been terrified that Carla would do something rash out of impulse.
"Enough! Everyone, flee from here at once! I shall remain with the doomed Extalia!" Shagotte shouted loudly to the surrounding cats.
"I don't want to leave..."
"I want to stay here too..."
"Our history is over..."
"That is why Her Majesty revealed everything..."
"But, I want to be with Her Majesty..."
"I want to stay here with you too..." The surrounding cats spoke out one after another, their eyes brimming with tears, unwilling to leave.
"You cannot! Everyone! This country is destined for destruction! Flee quickly!" Shagotte shouted, tears welling up in her eyes.
Hearing these words, Carla violently snatched up the sword from the ground and charged straight at Shagotte.
"Carla!" Wendy cried out, while Meredy and Yukino stared at Carla with wide eyes.
Swish!
Carla violently drove the longsword straight into the ground right in front of Shagotte.
"Don't... Don't you dare give up so easily!" she screamed.
Her voice resonated across the entire area, plunging the scene into complete silence as everyone turned to look at her.
"This is your country, isn't it?! Can you accomplish absolutely nothing without a god or a Queen?! Up until now, even if you had to live a lie, you fought desperately to survive, didn't you?! Why are you giving up so easily?!" Carla shouted, tears welling up in her own eyes.
"It does not matter if you are weak! As long as everyone joins forces, we can absolutely do this! This country will not be destroyed! This is my homeland! I do not want to lose it!"
Carla's voice echoed in everyone's ears, leaving them completely dumbfounded.
"I won't give up! I will definitely stop it!" With that loud declaration, Carla unfurled the wings on her back and flew directly toward the incoming floating island.
"Carla!" Meredy shouted, but Carla had already flown quite a distance away.
"Carla is right. I won't give up either!" Happy said with absolute determination. He sprouted his wings and took to the sky, chasing right after Carla.
The cats at the scene stared at their departing figures in wide-eyed astonishment.
"I... I will go too..." came Nadi's voice from the side.
"Nadi..." Shagotte looked at him.
"Because... I love this country the most!" Nadi's face was completely covered in tears. The wings on his back opened up, and he soared into the air to join Carla and Happy.
"I... I am going too!"
"Me too!"
"Same here!"
"This is our country too! I love it more than anything!"
Inspired by Carla and Happy taking the lead, and Nadi following suit, the Exceeds at the scene answered the call one after another. They all unfurled their wings and flew toward the incoming floating island en masse.
"Noah, what do we do now?" Meredy and the others turned back to look at Noah. Carla, Happy, and the rest had already rushed out.
"How is the situation down below?" Sorano quietly asked Noah regarding the events on the ground.
"Not bad. We have reached the control console for the Dragon Chain Cannon, and I am currently decrypting it. The device is heavily locked down, so I need a bit of time to crack it," Noah replied softly.
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