Chapter 446: The Effect is Too Good
"Thank you for the gifts," Edo-Lucy said, looking earnestly at Noah.
The items Noah had provided would be of immense help to them now that they no longer had magic power.
"In a way, we are partially responsible for what is happening," Noah replied seriously to Edo-Lucy and the others. "Even if this world's magic was destined to disappear eventually, our arrival accelerated the process. Consider this a small form of compensation to help you transition more smoothly."
"Regardless, we still want to thank you for the gifts," Edo-Lucy said, looking at Noah and his group.
By this point, her emotions had stabilized significantly, and she had thought things through. Under normal circumstances, the magic of Edolas would have eventually vanished anyway. The method the King had devised required the sacrifice of countless lives, a method they could never accept. Now that the disappearance of magic was a foregone conclusion—and their long-held fear had become reality—she actually felt a sense of relief.
She no longer had to constantly worry about the inevitable. She only needed to focus on how to overcome the current crisis before them. With the gifts Noah had provided, she believed it wouldn't be too difficult for the guild to survive this ordeal.
"You're welcome," Noah said, waving his hand dismissively.
Boom!!!
Suddenly, a massive explosion echoed from the distance, followed closely by a giant plume of smoke and dust rising into the sky, visible from anywhere in the Royal Capital.
"What happened?!" the surrounding citizens cried out in panic.
"Leave a few people here to guard the guild; the rest of you, come with me to see what is going on!" Edo-Lucy ordered with a wave of her hand, organizing the members of the Edolas Fairy Tail.
She then sprinted off, taking the lead, with Edo-Natsu and the others following closely behind her toward the source of the explosion.
"Let's head over there as well," Noah said to Ultear and the rest.
Everyone nodded. Noah cast a concealment spell on the group to mask their presence, and they ran toward the site of the explosion.
Along the way, they saw numerous Royal Army soldiers maintaining order. Armed with shields in one hand and clubs in the other, they were subduing anyone taking advantage of the chaos to cause trouble. With magical items rendered useless, these uniformly equipped soldiers held a massive advantage over the rioters.
These soldiers were the ones Mystogan had secretly contacted and gained support from beforehand. The equipment they carried had also been prepared in advance by Noah and Mystogan; when the chaos erupted, Mystogan had immediately notified these soldiers to retrieve and use it.
Thanks to the efforts of these soldiers, the chaos was significantly reduced. Although the citizens were still terrified, very few dared to cause a disturbance in front of the armed guards.
The members of the Edolas Fairy Tail used their hands or pieces of cloth to cover their faces. Since the soldiers were busy maintaining order, they didn't pay the mages any mind.
They smoothly arrived near the site of the explosion. Noah and his group followed suit, finding that a large crowd of citizens had already gathered there.
Boom!!!
Just as they arrived, another explosion went off. A deafening blast echoed out, dust rocketed into the sky, and nearby houses collapsed one after another. The surrounding residents scrambled in panic to avoid the falling debris.
"Wahahahaha!!!"
A maniacal laughter echoed from a nearby rooftop, prompting everyone to quickly look up.
Standing there was a figure wearing a red cape, sporting a pair of large horns on his head and sakura-pink hair. He was laughing wildly, his voice carrying across several adjacent streets.
"My name is the Great Demon King Dragneel! I shall be the one taking all the magic of this world!" he announced loudly between bouts of arrogant laughter.
As he spoke, blasts of fire erupted from his mouth, causing the surrounding temperature to steadily rise.
"H-Help!"
"Waaah!"
Seeing a person literally breathing fire from his mouth, the surrounding citizens were instantly terrified.
"Hahahahaha!!!"
Natsu continued to laugh uproariously from the roof. Every now and then, he would lick his lips and cast malicious glares at the crowd below. Meeting his gaze, the citizens couldn't help but shudder, their faces turning pale as they stumbled backward.
"You—"
Edo-Natsu, having arrived nearby and seeing Natsu's bizarre getup on the roof, couldn't help but try to call out to him. However, Edo-Lucy quickly grabbed him and held him back.
Looking at Natsu's appearance on the roof, Edo-Lucy realized he was obviously playing a role. This was not the time to interrupt or talk to him. Furthermore, there had to be some sort of magic affecting him; Edo-Natsu was standing right there with an identical face, yet it hadn't drawn anyone's attention.
"What kind of magic did you cast on Natsu? The people around here didn't react at all despite seeing another Natsu right here," Sorano asked Noah curiously.
"To anyone who doesn't already know Natsu, his appearance will seem slightly altered, giving off a much more terrifying vibe. The same goes for the other two. This is also to prevent the Edolas versions of Natsu and the others from being negatively affected," Noah explained.
"Wahahaha! Your King has been defeated by me! I generously spared his pathetic little life! Hahaha!" Natsu bellowed from above.
With a sweep of his right hand, he gestured to the side. The crowd followed his movement and gasped—the King was tied up and slung nearby, still completely unconscious.
"N-No way!"
"Your Majesty!"
"To think His Majesty was actually..."
"How could such a terrible thing happen?!"
Many residents of the Royal Capital had seen the King during his public speeches. Realizing that it truly was the King tied up up there, their panic reached unprecedented levels.
"Dreyar! Redfox! My servants! Destroy this town!" Natsu shouted.
Immediately following his command, several nearby houses were sliced cleanly in half. Amidst the sound of collapsing buildings, Gajeel's figure, draped in a black cape, appeared before the crowd.
"Who is that guy?!"
"His arm turned into a sword?!"
"The houses are collapsing!"
The citizens of the Royal Capital were thrown into absolute panic. They had never seen anything like a human arm transforming into an iron sword.
"Hmph!"
Accompanied by the roar of thunder, Laxus appeared before the crowd, his entire body crackling with electricity. Stray bolts of lightning arched out from him, striking nearby buildings and causing them to explode, bringing down numerous houses in the process.
Laxus cast an expressionless gaze over the citizens; anyone he looked at stumbled backward in sheer terror.
"Why does it feel like they are way too experienced at destroying houses?" Lucy couldn't help but mutter.
She got the distinct feeling that every casual movement the two of them made was designed to easily decimate the surrounding architecture.
"How do you feel about Natsu's destructive capabilities?" Noah asked Lucy with a smile.
"Ah! Don't remind me! Every time I lose my mission reward, it is because of him!" Lucy groaned in agony.
"Their destructive capabilities are on par with Natsu's, if not greater. However, they have much better control over their actions than Natsu does, so they normally cause less collateral damage. Now that they've been given free rein to destroy, of course they look experienced," Noah explained with a chuckle.
"That makes perfect sense," Lucy nodded in immediate understanding once Natsu was used as the benchmark. She then looked at the ruined buildings. "But these houses..."
"They all belong to wealthy nobles, specifically the ones in the Royal Capital with terrible reputations who constantly commit heinous acts. We specifically gathered intel and marked these targets for Natsu and the others to destroy," Noah explained with a smile. "Those people over there are the defeated guards and the corrupt nobles. You don't need to worry about them voicing any objections."
Noah pointed to a pile of unconscious people heaped in a far corner. Lucy's mouth twitched slightly. "Alright, I have no further questions."
"Waaaah!"
"Help us!"
Watching the houses being continuously decimated, the citizens backed away in sheer horror.
"Those are great villains intent on destroying this city! They are absolute demons! It is terrifying! Simply terrifying!"
A voice suddenly rang out directly in the ears of the surrounding citizens. Hearing it, they couldn't help but shiver, cold sweat pouring down their backs.
"This is fun! Let me join in!"
Although the voice had been altered, Sorano noticed Noah's mouth opening and closing nearby, matching the words perfectly. Looking at him with a face full of excitement, she begged to join.
Noah had no choice but to nod. "I am just trying to add some horror to the atmosphere so the citizens become even more afraid of Natsu and the others. Just follow that general direction."
"Leave it to me!" Sorano patted her chest confidently.
Noah pointed at her, and a small, delicate golden magic circle materialized in front of her.
Sorano cleared her throat, built up her emotions, and spoke in a deep, ominous tone:
"They commit every evil imaginable! The atrocities you can picture are just their daily routine! Humanity can only groan in agony beneath their feet, and the world itself trembles before them! Now, they have set their sights on our world's magic, our city! What do we do?! What do we do?! What do we dooooo—"
Sorano's voice started low but gradually rose in pitch, stretching out the final note so high that it nearly cracked.
Even Lucy and Meredy, who were watching her speak, couldn't help but shudder involuntarily, with Meredy and the others huddling together. Up on the roof, Natsu's maniacal laughter actually faltered for a second out of sheer shock. Fortunately, he recovered quickly and resumed laughing, though it sounded a bit lacking in confidence compared to before.
The citizens, however, were in no state to notice the slight falter in his laughter. Seeing the destruction before them and hearing such terrifying words echoing in their ears, they nearly went into cardiac arrest. The crowd grew even more frantic, teetering on the edge of a full-blown stampede.
"The effect is too good... We probably don't need to do that anymore..." Noah sighed. He hurriedly channeled his magic to stabilize the overly panicked citizens' emotions, preventing them from completely breaking down.
"Haha..." Sorano let out an awkward laugh, stepping back a few paces.
"Hahaha! Servants, continue the destruction!" Natsu regained his rhythm after a moment of laughing, shouting down at Gajeel and Laxus.
"Servants this, servants that, shut the hell up, you bastard!" Gajeel yelled back angrily. Laxus also shot a sideways glare at Natsu on the roof.
"Alright, just do it!" Natsu said, dropping the act entirely for a second.
"Your entire tone just changed," Gajeel complained, though he dutifully went back to destroying the surrounding houses and intimidating the citizens.
Laxus also maintained the crackling electricity around his body, forcing any citizens who got too close to retreat.
"Your magic is mine! Hahaha!!!" Natsu resumed his roaring laughter. Paired with the sound of collapsing buildings, it sounded exceptionally terrifying.
"Are they... are they the ones stealing Edolas's magic?"
"The Great Demon King Dragneel!"
"We can absolutely never forgive them!"
"Stop this at once!"
While many citizens were too paralyzed by fear from Gajeel and Laxus's actions to make a sound, quite a few angrily shouted at them.
"I refuse!" Natsu declared without hesitation, casting a side-eye at the citizens yelling at him. "Anyone who dares to defy me shall be—"
Natsu unleashed a massive pillar of fire from his mouth. The flames shot straight into the sky, instantly spiking the surrounding temperature.
"What is that?!"
"He is breathing fire from his mouth—"
"He is a monster!"
The citizens were terrified by Natsu's display, sweat pouring down their foreheads.
Suddenly, a booming voice echoed out:
"Stop right there!"
Hearing the voice, Natsu turned his head to look. Gajeel and Laxus also paused their destruction. The citizens were drawn by the voice as well, all turning their heads toward the source.
"Who was that just now?"
"Over there! On the castle balcony!"
A citizen spotted Mystogan standing on the castle balcony and immediately shouted.
"I am the Great Demon King Dragneel! Are you trying to stop me, Prince of Edolas?!" Natsu demanded, his tone dripping with menace as he stared at Mystogan.
"Prince?"
"Is he the Prince?"
"The one who went missing seven years ago..."
"Prince Jellal...?"
The surrounding citizens immediately broke into hushed whispers.
"How is that possible? There is no way it is actually him."
"I... I wouldn't be so sure."
Because Mystogan had been gone for so long, the citizens were hesitant to believe Natsu's claim.
"But... the one standing next to him looks exactly like the Magic Warfare Unit Captain, Panther Lily! Look at how respectfully he is acting toward him. Could he really be the Prince?" a sharp-eyed citizen pointed out upon spotting Lily beside Mystogan.
Lily's appearance was simply too distinct; he was the only human-sized Exceed in the entire Royal Army, so the vast majority of people recognized him. Seeing him standing respectfully behind Mystogan, the citizens' belief in Mystogan's identity as the Prince grew significantly.
"But what happened to the Magic Warfare Unit..."
"If this continues, His Majesty the King will be killed!"
"Regardless of whether he is the real Prince or not, can he actually defeat monsters like them?"
Seeing Natsu and the others halt their attack, and witnessing the appearance of a man proclaimed to be the Prince, the citizens finally breathed a sigh of relief and began discussing the situation fervently.
~~~
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