Chapter 440: Brute Force Creates Miracles
Mystogan did not reply. His hands blurred as he rapidly formed several hand signs in front of him, swiftly channeling the magic within his staves.
"Triple Magic Circle: Mirror Water!"
The massive magical blast that had just been blocked by his barriers suddenly surged and violently reflected straight back in the direction it came from.
"What?! It was reflected?!" The King's astonished voice echoed from the sky.
Boom!
The reflected magic blast scored a direct hit on the Dragon Knight, triggering a colossal explosion. Thick, billowing smoke instantly completely engulfed the colossal mecha.
"That actually stung a little," the King's voice rang out from within the smoke. The fierce winds quickly dispersed the cloud, revealing the towering silhouette of the Dragon Knight.
Its metallic surface remained as radiant as ever, without a single scratch or scorch mark to be seen.
Seeing this, Mystogan's eyebrows furrowed deeply.
"It took absolutely no damage!" Sorano exclaimed in shock.
"How is that possible?!" Wendy covered her mouth in disbelief. The attack Mystogan had reflected was incredibly powerful, yet it failed to leave even a dent on the Dragon Knight.
"Could that be..." Meredy muttered, a terrible realization dawning on her.
"Exactly! This is the absolute power of the Anti-Magic Lacrima!" The King boasted loudly, his voice brimming with pride. "No matter how much you mages struggle, it is completely useless! All magic is rendered entirely ineffective against Dorma Anim!"
Immediately after, the Dragon Knight once again aimed its massive cannon at Mystogan. Another devastating magic blast was fired, hurtling rapidly toward him.
Mystogan prepared to intercept the attack once more, but Noah reached out and stopped him. In a flash, a golden magic circle expanded right in front of the two of them.
The incoming blast slammed into the golden barrier but was completely unable to break through.
"You should head back and get ready. You do not need to deal with this guy," Noah said.
"Very well. Be careful," Mystogan nodded, understanding Noah's intent.
With a wave of his hand, Noah teleported Mystogan away. He then turned back to Sorano and the girls.
"You all should head down as well. I still have a use for the giant Lacrima on this island, and the Royal Army soldiers down below still need dealing with."
"What about that giant hunk of metal?" Gajeel asked, pointing at the hovering Dragon Knight. They had all just witnessed its devastating long-range firepower. If left unchecked, it would pose a massive threat to everyone.
"It is already here," Noah replied, simply pointing downwards. Everyone immediately followed his gaze.
Tearing through the atmosphere from a distance, a golden beam of light—infinitely thicker and more destructive than the Dragon Knight's previous blast—hurtled directly toward the colossal mecha.
"What?!" The King cried out in panic. Before he could react, the golden beam slammed squarely into the Dragon Knight, triggering a cataclysmic detonation.
Boom!!!
Thick smoke instantly blanketed the sky as the Dragon Knight was violently blown backward by the sheer force of the explosion. It flew through the air for quite a distance before its hind legs finally hit the ground, dragging violently across the earth before finally skidding to a halt.
From the distance, Noah's figure slowly approached across the terrain.
"You despicable brat!!!" The King roared furiously from within the cockpit.
Although the Dragon Knight's exterior was largely undamaged, it was now covered in a thick layer of dust and dirt.
"Oh, well, I guess I can relax then," Gajeel let out a satisfied breath, seeing that Noah was taking over the fight against the Dragon Knight.
"Is that your real body?" Sorano asked curiously, looking at the Noah standing beside her.
"Of course. I figured it was time I stretched my legs a bit," Noah nodded. He turned to Sorano and the rest. "I am going to send you off this island now to deal with the Royal Army below. Laxus and the others have already arrived on the battlefield down there."
Sorano and the girls nodded.
Noah then turned to the Exceeds standing nearby. "You should all leave this place as well. I need to make some modifications to this Lacrima."
"Thank you so much for your help! We are truly, eternally grateful!" Queen Shagotte said, bowing her head with absolute sincerity.
"Thank you all so much!"
"We are so deeply sorry for our behavior earlier!"
The surrounding Exceeds chimed in, echoing their Queen's gratitude and apologies.
Noah casually waved them off. With a snap of his fingers, Sorano, Gajeel, Wendy, and the others vanished from the island, teleported directly to the ground below.
Guided by Queen Shagotte and the elders, the Exceeds quickly took to the skies to flee. A portion of their Royal Guard Division split off to assist Sorano's group on the ground, while the rest headed straight back to Extalia.
However, upon reaching the lower altitudes, they discovered that the Royal Army soldiers were armed with weapons capable of turning them into Lacrima. Caught off guard, and despite the immediate intervention of Sorano and her team, a number of Exceeds were still transformed into Lacrima crystals. Terrified, the remaining Exceeds desperately flew out of range.
Meanwhile, Sorano's group regrouped with Laxus and the rest of Fairy Tail on the ground, engaging the ever-increasing swarms of Royal Army soldiers rallying under the King's orders.
Back on the floating island, Noah looked at the Dragon Knight.
"Oh, this is some genuinely impressive technology. Definitely worth studying," Noah praised, admiring the mecha that had taken his heavy artillery blast without sustaining significant damage.
"Hahahahaha! Magic is completely useless against Dorma Anim!" The King laughed maniacally after quickly running a diagnostic check and finding zero hull damage.
"Is that so? I don't believe you."
Noah shook his head. He raised his right hand forward, and a golden magic circle materialized in his palm. It rapidly expanded to about two meters in diameter. An unfathomable amount of magic surged into the circle, condensing into a blazing golden sphere of pure energy.
"Divine Judgment!"
The golden sphere erupted into a devastating cannon blast. A torrential flood of magical energy surged forward, rushing violently toward the Dragon Knight.
"What?!" The King panicked. He desperately tried to pilot the Dragon Knight out of the way, but the attack was simply too fast.
Boom!!!
The magic blast scored a direct hit. Instantly, a massive sphere of golden light enveloped the entire Dragon Knight. The sphere rapidly expanded before detonating with earth-shattering force, the deafening roar of the explosion echoing for miles.
The Dragon Knight was forcefully ejected from the blast radius, crashing miserably onto the ground nearby.
As the shockwaves dissipated, a massive crater over a hundred meters in diameter was left behind where the mecha had just stood.
"Dorma Anim is supposed to be completely immune to magical damage... Yet, even if it is just a tiny fraction, it actually sustained damage?!"
Protected within the cockpit, the King was unharmed despite the violent turbulence. But upon recovering and checking the mecha's status, his voice cracked with unparalleled shock. The Dragon Knight had actually taken hull damage.
"Mhm. As expected, massively ramping up the magic output can indeed force damage through," Noah murmured, quite satisfied with the test results.
"You insolent brat! Dragon Missiles, fire!" The King's voice shook with unbridled rage.
The Dragon Knight scrambled back to its feet. The armor plating on its tail slid open, and dozens of missiles shot into the sky before homing in aggressively on Noah.
"Light Funnels!"
Multiple golden orbs materialized around Noah. These floating turrets immediately fired a barrage of precise, condensed laser beams, intercepting the incoming missiles mid-flight.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
The intercepted missiles detonated in the air, creating a massive chain of explosions that filled the sky with thick smoke.
Whoosh!
A gaping hole was violently punched straight through the smoke cloud as Noah's figure rapidly closed the distance to the Dragon Knight.
Clang!
Noah drove his fist squarely into the Dragon Knight's chest plate. A deafening metallic clang echoed across the battlefield, leaving a very shallow fist imprint on the mecha's reinforced armor.
"Excellent durability," Noah nodded in approval. He hadn't used his full strength, but that punch alone carried enough physical force to crater the ground for dozens of meters. Yet, it only managed to leave a shallow dent. It truly lived up to its reputation as the King's ultimate trump card.
"Damn you!" The King roared, noticing the dent Noah had just punched into his invincible mecha.
Furious, he manipulated the controls, violently swinging the Dragon Knight's massive tail at Noah. Noah gracefully leaped backward, easily evading the sweeping strike.
Seizing the opening, the Dragon Knight launched another volley of missiles while simultaneously firing a massive energy blast from its maw.
Noah's Light Funnels tracked and intercepted every single missile, detonating them harmlessly in the sky. As for the incoming energy blast, Noah simply swatted it away with his bare hands before casually firing several rapid energy blasts of his own right back at the mecha.
While these blasts were smaller in scale than his previous Divine Judgment, Noah had hyper-compressed the magic within them, resulting in even more devastating piercing damage.
The rapid succession of compressed blasts slammed into the Dragon Knight, forcefully knocking the colossal machine backward. Its metal feet dragged violently across the earth, gouging two deep trenches into the ground.
Without giving it a second to recover, Noah stomped hard on the ground, launching himself right in front of the Dragon Knight. His right fist tore through the air with a piercing whistle, smashing directly into its abdomen.
Clang!!!
Under the sheer, overwhelming force of Noah's punch, the towering Dragon Knight was physically lifted off the ground, flying backward through the air before crashing heavily back down to earth.
Thud!
As the Dragon Knight's feet finally stabilized on the ground, the King snapped out of his daze. He frantically checked the mecha's diagnostics, and his eyes widened in sheer terror.
Right where Noah had just struck, there was a new fist imprint—significantly deeper and wider than the first one.
"Th-This is pure insanity! Is this the power of an Earth Land mage?!"
To think a single human could unleash magical artillery strikes on par with, or even exceeding, the Dragon Knight's own firepower! And looking at Noah's calm, nonchalant demeanor, it was terrifyingly obvious that those blasts were just casual, standard attacks for him.
The boy possessed an absolutely astronomical reserve of magic power—so much that he could afford to throw around such catastrophic attacks without breaking a sweat.
But what was even more horrifying was his physical strength. To physically punch a towering metal mecha into the air and dent Anti-Magic armor with bare fists... even with magical reinforcement, the King had never witnessed such godly physical capabilities.
"This really is a fantastic magical construct. Incredibly powerful and incredibly sturdy," Noah praised without a shred of hesitation.
Hovering just millimeters in front of his eyes were two tiny, intricate golden magic circles. They were rapidly calculating and analyzing every single structural detail of the mechanical beast.
"Excellent! Truly excellent! I want you more and more!" The King's deranged, fanatical voice echoed from the Dragon Knight.
Hearing this, a violently uncomfortable shiver ran down Noah's spine.
"Yeah, let's not say things like that. I really do not want an old man obsessing over me. Although... is it transforming? Entering its second phase?"
Noah watched as the Dragon Knight's exterior shifted. Its previously silver armor gradually turned pitch black. Surrounding magic power in the atmosphere was being violently sucked into the mecha, and the aura radiating from the Dragon Knight grew exponentially more dangerous.
"As long as I have you, I can enact the Anima Plan all over again! For the sake of eternal magic, I must capture you! No... you are a weapon now, you must be acquired! Even if I have to break a few of your parts, it cannot be helped!"
The King's voice grew thick with boundless greed. The unfathomable magic radiating from Noah had completely intoxicated him. He stared at Noah through his monitors with eyes full of maniacal obsession.
Noah got goosebumps all over his body. Looking up at the Dragon Knight, he could literally feel the nauseatingly greedy gaze locked onto him.
"First, I will break your will to fight! Bow before the Black Sky power of Dorma Anim!"
The Dragon Knight had now turned completely pitch-black. Its front claws shifted and extended into two massive, razor-sharp broadswords, violently humming with magical energy.
Piloted by the King, the mecha lunged forward with terrifying speed, thrusting one of its massive blades directly at Noah.
Noah lightly hopped backward, smoothly evading the strike.
The blade pierced the earth where he had just stood, instantly triggering a massive explosion that sent tons of dirt and debris flying into the air.
Without missing a beat, the Dragon Knight swung its other blade, slashing horizontally at Noah.
Mid-air in his backward leap, Noah casually raised his right hand and fired a compressed light blast.
Boom!
The blast slammed into the Dragon Knight with the exact same output as his previous attacks. However, aside from kicking up a thick cloud of smoke, it failed to inflict the same level of damage as before.
"So its defensive capabilities increase after changing forms? Its speed and offensive output have also gone up considerably," Noah analyzed the Dragon Knight's new specs while effortlessly weaving through its relentless onslaught.
"Hahahaha!!! Do you feel it?! This absolute, supreme magic power! It is magnificent!"
The King laughed maniacally as he relentlessly drove the Dragon Knight forward. Enhanced by its new form, the mecha was faster and deadlier than ever, swinging its magic-infused blades at Noah in a relentless, blinding flurry.
Noah continuously bounded backward, evading every single strike by a hair's breadth.
Every time a missed blade struck the ground, a devastating explosion followed. Within moments, the surrounding terrain was completely pulverized, littered with massive craters carved out by the Dragon Knight's rampage.
"Stop jumping around like a flea! Submit and become my prisoner! Become my weapon!" The King's frenzied voice roared from the mecha. The Dragon Knight's movements accelerated even further, the magic coalescing on its blades glowing even brighter.
"Yep, he has completely lost his mind," Noah sighed, shaking his head.
He casually sidestepped another sweeping slash. Raising his hand, he condensed a terrifying amount of magic into a tiny sphere no larger than the palm of his hand, and fired it directly at the Dragon Knight.
"It is useless! The Black Sky power of Dorma Anim is absolutely invincible!" The King cackled arrogantly. Seeing that Noah's blast was significantly smaller than his previous ones, he completely dismissed the idea that such a tiny attack could even scratch his empowered mecha.
The compressed light blast struck the Dragon Knight dead on. A massive cloud of dust and debris erupted, completely obscuring the colossal machine.
The King's laughter never ceased—until his eyes fell upon the Dragon Knight's internal diagnostic monitors. His cackling abruptly choked in his throat as he screamed in terror:
"H-How is this possible?! How could Dorma Anim sustain damage now?!"
As the smoke cleared, the spot where Noah's tiny blast had struck was revealed. Entire chunks of the Black Sky armor had been blown clean off, the structural damage far more severe than any of Noah's previous strikes.
"Isn't it obvious?" Noah smiled calmly. "If increasing and compressing my magic output yields greater damage, naturally, I am going to do exactly that. Furthermore, you didn't actually think I was doing nothing but dodging this whole time, did you? These two glowing magic circles right in front of my eyes are pretty conspicuous; you should have noticed them. This is an analytical magic. I have completely analyzed the structural integrity and weaknesses of your magical toy. Naturally, I can now inflict maximum damage."
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