Chapter 472: That's Right, This is Our Airship
"That's right. That's Grimoire Heart's headquarters, and it's heading straight for Tenrou Island," Noah nodded, standing up to address the group. "Since our guests have arrived, it's time we went out to greet them."
"OHHH! I'M ALL FIRED UP!" Natsu leaped to his feet, roaring with excitement.
The others quickly followed suit, their eyes burning with fighting spirit. Since the enemy had brazenly marched onto their holy ground, returning the favor with a brutal counterattack was only natural. There was no need for pleasantries.
"Alright, let's head to the coast," Noah said. Seeing no objections, he raised his hand, and the entire group was instantly teleported to the shoreline of Tenrou Island.
"Where is it? I don't see the airship anywhere," Gray asked, scanning the clear blue sky. There was absolutely no sign of the massive black vessel they had just seen on the monitor.
"The airship is still quite a distance away. Let me check its exact coordinates." Noah opened his Archive screens in front of him and tapped the interface a few times.
A live feed materialized, displaying the black airship cruising through the sky. However, just seconds later, the image began to violently distort with static. The screen flashed erratically before completely blacking out.
"What happened?!" Meredy gasped.
"Looks like they detected my sensory magic. They've deployed an active magical jamming field to block my observation," Noah explained calmly, tapping the screen a few more times to analyze the interference.
"So what now? How far are they from the island?" Ultear asked.
"Give me a second. Wow, they're actually trying to trace my signal back to our location? Nice try." Noah smirked, his fingers flying across the holographic keyboard. Dozens of magic circles flared to life in front of him and vanished instantly, sending pulses of counter-frequency magic rippling through the air.
To avoid accidentally escalating the situation before they were ready, Noah didn't launch an offensive cyber-attack; he simply scrambled their tracing spell, ensuring they couldn't pinpoint who was watching them.
"There. All fixed. They might have jammed my close-range observation, but they can't stop me from zooming in from a distance!" Noah smiled.
The screen flared back to life, displaying a wide shot of the vast blue sky. The camera rapidly zoomed in, and the black airship reappeared on the monitor.
"Based on their current speed and trajectory, they'll reach Tenrou Island in about ten to twenty minutes. Everyone, get ready," Noah announced, checking the telemetry data.
"Awwww, we have to wait that long?!" Natsu groaned, completely impatient.
"It gives you more time to rest so you don't get your ass kicked later," Gray snarked from the side.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY, STRIPPER?!" Natsu exploded instantly, lunging at Gray.
"Shut up and rest!"
Erza materialized between them, delivering a brutal downward punch to Natsu's head while shooting a terrifying glare at Gray.
Natsu instantly dropped to the floor, completely unconscious, while Gray shivered violently, clamping his mouth shut and refusing to make a sound.
Erza then swept her stern gaze across the rest of the group. The slightly restless mages instantly quieted down and obediently took a seat on the sand. Satisfied, Erza sat down as well, closing her eyes to regulate her breathing and enter a state of absolute focus.
Hmm... we can't fight on Tenrou Island itself. I need to expand the battlefield, Noah thought.
If a full-scale war broke out between the entirety of Fairy Tail's S-Class roster and Grimoire Heart, the sheer collateral damage would completely obliterate their holy ground. Even fighting on the beach would result in catastrophic shockwaves tearing through the jungle. Having to manually repair the island's leylines and geography afterward would be a massive, tedious chore.
It was far more efficient to simply create an entirely new battlefield. That way, they could go all out without worrying about destroying anything important.
Noah channeled his magic. He lifted his right foot and stomped heavily on the beach.
RUMBLE... RUMBLE... RUMBLE...
Massive, concentric rings of magic pulsed outward from his foot, plunging deep into the ocean directly in front of the island.
The seabed began to violently rise, breaking the surface of the water with a deafening roar. The new landmass expanded outward at a terrifying speed, pushing the ocean aside.
When Noah finally ceased his magic, a massive, flat expanse of land—roughly half the size of Tenrou Island itself—now jutted out of the ocean directly attached to the beach. The new battlefield was currently littered with flopping fish, seaweed, coral, and scrambling crabs.
Noah shook his head, stomped his foot a second time, and sent a sweeping wave of kinetic magic rolling across the newly formed landmass. The wave acted like a massive broom, sweeping all the sea life, debris, and even a thin layer of wet topsoil straight back into the ocean, leaving behind a perfectly flat, dry, and barren battlefield.
Noah nodded in satisfaction. This would serve perfectly for the upcoming war.
He quickly laced the new battlefield with several subtle runic arrays to give Fairy Tail a slight tactical advantage and to prevent the enemy from easily escaping. Once finished, he returned to the group and sat down to meditate.
"They're here!"
About fifteen minutes later, Natsu—who had been eagerly staring at the sky the entire time—shouted, pointing toward the horizon.
Everyone leaped to their feet. Sure enough, a small black speck was rapidly growing larger against the blue sky. It was the Grimoire Heart airship.
"Finally," Gray cracked his knuckles, a sharp glint in his eye.
"They're flying. We need to shoot them down first," Laxus stated casually, cracking his neck. He stepped forward, clearly intending to blast the ship out of the sky with a massive lightning strike.
"Whoa, whoa, hold on. They'll come out on their own. If they're looking for Zeref, they have to deploy search teams on the ground," Noah quickly stepped in front of Laxus, stopping him. "Besides, don't you think that airship looks mighty fine? Since they're already our enemies, shouldn't we claim that ship as compensation for ruining our exam? Very few guilds own a functional stealth airship. We shouldn't pass up a perfectly good prize. With a few modifications, it'll be a massive asset. So please, do not blow up our new loot."
"He's completely right! That is our airship now! Breaking it would be a huge waste!" Sorano nodded vigorously, already imagining herself lounging on the deck of her new flying fortress.
Laxus lowered his arm with a sigh. "Fine. Since you want the ship intact, what's the plan?"
"Simple. We go up, intercept them in the air, and force them to deploy directly onto the battlefield I just made," Noah said. His feet lifted off the sand as he slowly levitated into the air.
A Thought Projection stepped out of his body and remained on the ground, ready to manually operate Tenrou Island's barrier to ensure none of the enemies managed to slip past the battlefield and onto the island proper.
"Wait, I am coming with you," Makarov called out, stopping Noah.
"Grandpa, just wait here. I can handle the interception myself," Noah argued gently.
"While your raw power and magical knowledge are unmatched, your practical combat experience against truly devious, ancient enemies is still lacking. If they use some obscure, archaic magic, you might get caught off guard. With me there, I can watch your back," Makarov insisted stubbornly.
Makarov glanced at the others. Aside from himself and Noah, the strongest mages present were Gildarts and Ur. Leaving those two on the ground to protect the 'children' was the smartest tactical move. Therefore, he and Noah were the best candidates to intercept the airship.
In truth, Makarov was simply terrified of letting Noah face down the full might of the most powerful Dark Guild in the world entirely alone.
"I'll go with Noah," Gildarts offered, stepping forward.
"No. You and Ur stay here and protect the others," Makarov refused firmly, leaving no room for argument.
"Alright, Grandpa, you can come with me. But promise me you won't intervene unless absolutely necessary. Let me handle the heavy lifting," Noah compromised, realizing Makarov wouldn't back down. As long as the old man stayed out of the direct line of fire, it was fine.
Makarov nodded in agreement.
Noah waved his hand, enveloping Makarov in his levitation magic. The two shot into the sky, rapidly ascending to intercept the approaching airship.
The black vessel slowed to a halt in the air, hovering just above the ocean a short distance from Noah's newly constructed battlefield, having noticed the two mages blocking their path.
"Let's say hello. Maguilty Söd!"
Noah floated a few meters ahead of Makarov. He raised his right hand, and a massive golden magic circle materialized in front of his palm. A colossal beam of golden light, several meters in diameter, erupted forward, screaming toward the airship.
The airship's magical engines suddenly flared, executing a surprisingly nimble evasive maneuver that allowed the golden beam to harmlessly graze past its hull.
Instantly, dozens of offensive magic circles materialized around the front of the airship, retaliating with a massive volley of magical artillery fire aimed directly at Noah and Makarov.
"I can do that too."
Noah didn't flinch. He looked up, and an equal number of golden magic circles flared to life in the air above and behind him. A rapid-fire barrage of laser beams shot forward, flawlessly intercepting and neutralizing every single incoming artillery shell mid-air.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A chain of explosions rocked the sky. The violent shockwaves tore through the atmosphere, forcefully blowing away the surrounding clouds.
"Round two. Maguilty Söd!"
Having neutralized their barrage, Noah raised his arm again. This time, a staggering magic circle over a dozen meters in diameter materialized. An unimaginably massive, blinding golden beam erupted forward, carrying an apocalyptic level of magical pressure straight toward the airship.
Hummm!
At the same time, the front hull of the airship parted, revealing a massive, heavily reinforced cannon barrel. An intense concentration of dark magic gathered at the tip before firing a colossal beam of destructive energy directly at Noah's attack.
"Oh? Is that the Jupiter Cannon? Not bad," Noah smirked, instantly recognizing the devastating weapon Phantom Lord had once used against their guild. It had only been a few months since he last blocked a Jupiter blast; it was quite nostalgic to face one again so soon.
BOOM!
Noah's golden beam and the airship's Jupiter blast collided head-on in mid-air. A deafening roar shattered the sky as the two apocalyptic attacks deadlocked against each other.
Fierce shockwaves continuously erupted from the point of impact, generating hurricane-force winds that whipped the ocean below into a frenzy.
KABOOM!!!
After several seconds of intense equilibrium, the opposing energies finally lost stability and detonated simultaneously.
A catastrophic explosion ripped through the sky, tearing a massive, rapidly expanding hole in the cloud cover above. The sheer force of the shockwave pushed both the massive airship and Noah backward several dozen meters.
Once the gale passed, Noah stabilized himself in the air.
"Hm? Are they not attacking?"
Noah waited for a moment, hesitant to launch another massive attack in case he accidentally blew up his newly claimed prize. However, the airship simply hovered there, making no further hostile moves.
Just as Noah debated his next move, a single figure wearing a sleek magical jetpack shot out from the airship's lower deck, diving straight down toward Tenrou Island at breakneck speed.
"Hah. Do they think I'm blind? Trying to sneak past me right in front of my face?" Noah chuckled.
He swiped two fingers through the air. A golden runic barrier instantly materialized directly in the flying mage's flight path.
Traveling at maximum speed, the mage had absolutely no time to alter their trajectory. They were going to slam face-first into the barrier.
Suddenly, a dark purple magic circle flashed into existence directly over Noah's golden barrier. The two opposing spells canceled each other out instantly, vanishing into thin air just milliseconds before the mage flew through the empty space completely unharmed.
"Oh? Now that's interesting!" Noah's eyes lit up with genuine intrigue.
His fingers danced rapidly through the air. A rapid succession of golden barriers materialized one after another directly in the flying mage's path.
Simultaneously, a rapid succession of dark purple magic circles materialized over every single golden barrier, flawlessly neutralizing them just in time.
The flying mage found themselves playing a terrifying game of chicken. Golden barriers kept appearing inches from their face, only to be neutralized by purple magic a split second before impact. The mage broke out in a heavy cold sweat, debating whether they should hit the brakes.
The dark purple magic was neutralizing the golden barriers slower and slower. The gap between the barriers appearing and being dispelled was shrinking drastically.
BAM!
Before the mage could make a decision, they slammed face-first into a golden barrier that the purple magic had failed to neutralize in time.
The sheer impact scrambled their brains, and they plummeted from the sky like a shot bird.
Though the mage quickly shook off the dizziness and tried to re-engage their jetpack, it was too late.
"Go."
Noah pointed two fingers at the falling mage. The figure vanished in a flash of spatial magic.
A second later, the mage reappeared, crashing heavily onto the very center of the barren battlefield Noah had created on the ocean.
Down below, Natsu didn't hesitate for a microsecond. The moment the enemy hit the ground, Natsu charged forward with a feral grin, the rest of the Fairy Tail vanguard hot on his heels.
Realizing they were completely surrounded and there was absolutely no chance of sneaking onto Tenrou Island, the Grimoire Heart mage gritted their teeth, clapped both hands together, and cast a mass-summoning spell.
Dozens of Grimoire Heart grunts materialized directly behind the mage.
Simultaneously, four other highly distinct individuals materialized in a row beside the summoner. Judging by their imposing auras and confident stances, these were the remaining five members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. (Since Azuma had already perished, these five were all that remained of the elite squad).
Fairy Tail's strike teams were already bearing down on the newly summoned enemy forces.
Suddenly, a single blur of motion exploded from the Fairy Tail ranks, blurring past Natsu and the others at terrifying speed, charging directly toward the five Seven Kin standing at the front of the enemy formation.
~~~
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