Chapter 355: As Expected of Me
"White Snake!!"
Mard Geer Tartaros waved his elegant hand with a dismissive, arrogant flick. In response to the Underworld King's command, the ambient Curse power in the atmosphere condensed violently, forming a massive, serpentine beam of blinding white light. It tore through the desolate, ruined landscape of Plutogrim, leaving a scorched trench in its wake as it blasted directly toward Ren.
Boom—!!
The white light struck Ren's body head-on, erupting in a violent, catastrophic explosion. A mushroom cloud of dust and debris surged into the dark sky, sending violent shockwaves rippling across the battlefield. Jagged chunks of the floating island were instantly pulverized into fine ash.
As the billowing smoke slowly dissipated, a towering silhouette remained completely unbothered in the center of the crater. Ren looked down at his body. The sheer destructive force of the Curse had completely shredded his upper garments, leaving only charred rags clinging to his waist.
However, beneath the ruined fabric lay a physique forged by the sun itself. His muscles were impossibly firm, thick, and radiating an overwhelming, oppressive heat that distorted the very air around him. Golden energy pulsed beneath his skin like liquid magma.
Ren casually ran a hand over his chiseled abdominal muscles, a thoroughly satisfied smirk playing on his lips.
"As expected of me," Ren chuckled softly, his deep voice carrying a tone of absolute, unshakable confidence. "My physique and muscles are just perfect. Truly a work of art."
"What?!"
Mard Geer Tartaros narrowed his dark eyes, his usual mask of supreme composure cracking slightly. The Underworld King was genuinely surprised. He hadn't expected this human to take his 'White Snake' head-on without so much as throwing up a defensive barrier. To remain completely unscathed—without a single scratch or scorch mark on his flesh—was far beyond Mard Geer's calculations.
"Thorns!!"
Mard Geer flicked his fingers, his signature Curse flaring to life. The ground beneath Ren ruptured as a massive cluster of giant, barbed vines shot upward. These dark thorns, capable of piercing through dragon scales and solid steel, lunged at Ren from all directions like a pack of rabid vipers.
Yet, Ren merely stood there. He neither dodged nor raised his arms to guard.
Clang! Snap! Crack!
The sounds of the impact echoed across the ruins, but it wasn't the sound of tearing flesh. Instead, the moment Mard Geer's legendary Thorns struck Ren's skin, they shattered like brittle twigs against a mountain of diamond. The jagged barbs broke off instantly, unable to leave even a faint white line on his sun-drenched skin.
"What?! He actually blocked my Thorns with just his physical body?!"
Mard Geer was greatly shocked, taking a subconscious half-step back. The very concept defied the laws of Magic and Curses entirely.
Ren sighed, tilting his head back to look down his nose at the Demon King. "Are you just tickling me? Or is this truly the power you intend to bestow upon me? Because if it is, I must admit, I'm profoundly disappointed."
"You..." Mard Geer's voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. "You truly are arrogant."
Ren's smile widened, his aura flaring with a blistering, golden intensity.
[System Prompt: Take Over - 'Sin of Pride' Synchronization at Optimal Levels.]
"Indeed!" Ren boomed, his voice echoing with the majesty of a sovereign. "The title of the character I've taken on right now is the 'Sin of Pride.' But compared to me, you're the truly arrogant one here! To face me without even bothering to use your Etherious Form—are you looking down on me, demon?"
"White Light Blade!"
Refusing to be baited, Mard Geer raised his hand and released a torrential barrage of hyper-compressed white blades. He wasn't going to let Ren's taunts affect him; emotions were a weakness that hindered rational thought, a flaw he had long since purged from his being to achieve perfect control over his Curse.
The blinding tempest of white blades effortlessly sheared through the residual Thorns in the area, whistling through the air at supersonic speeds. They slammed into Ren's body in a relentless, shimmering storm.
Yet, when the blinding light faded, the result was exactly the same. The attack caused absolutely zero damage to Ren's flesh. The only casualty was his remaining tattered trousers, which were now completely shredded, leaving him standing there in little more than blackened scraps.
Ren blinked, looking down at his exposed legs. "Well... this is actually a bit embarrassing."
"This human..."
Mard Geer Tartaros's eyes narrowed into sharp, dangerous slits. The Underworld King finally felt a cold coil of dread settle in his stomach. Something was fundamentally wrong. This opponent's raw physical strength and durability were so far beyond his predictions that it felt as though they were standing in completely different dimensions of power.
"It seems you're still looking down on me," Ren sighed theatrically, rolling his broad shoulders. The heat rolling off his body began to singe the very earth beneath his feet. "Strange. Do I appear that harmless? I always seem to make others underestimate me. It looks like I'll have to show a bit of real strength, or I'll truly be looked down upon by a mere bookworm."
Ren slowly raised his right hand, his palm open toward the heavens.
"Divine Axe 'Rhitta'!"
A heavy, golden streak tore through the sky. The massive, ornate one-handed battle axe that had been embedded in the ground several miles away answered its master's call, flying at breakneck speed until it slammed perfectly into Ren's waiting grip. The sheer weight of the weapon caused the ground beneath Ren to instantly spiderweb and crater.
Seeing the blistering solar energy radiating from the blade of the axe, Mard Geer Tartaros finally became entirely serious. His dark aura surged, preparing for the inevitable clash.
"Dust Slash!"
Ren didn't take a stance. He didn't roar. He merely took a casual, almost lazy swing with the heavy one-handed axe, hacking down in the general direction of Mard Geer Tartaros.
"White Light Sphere!"
Reacting with pure survival instinct, Mard Geer immediately conjured his most potent defensive Curse—a massive, ultra-dense sphere of destructive white light meant to simultaneously obliterate the incoming attack and vaporize Ren.
Swish—!
The collision between the White Light Sphere and the Divine Axe 'Rhitta' did not go as Mard Geer had calculated. There was no struggle. There was no shockwave of two equal forces pushing against one another.
Instead, the supposedly indestructible White Light Sphere was parted like soft tofu, easily and silently sliced perfectly in half by the searing edge of the Divine Axe.
The very millisecond the White Light Sphere was broken by Rhitta, Mard Geer's pupils shrank to pinpricks. His demonic instincts screamed at him to move. His body blurred, instinctively throwing himself violently to the side.
It was the only reason he kept his life.
A massive, invisible shockwave of kinetic force and solar heat erupted from the slash, splitting the remnants of the White Light Sphere and continuing its trajectory into the far distance.
Rumble—!!!
A deafening cataclysm echoed across the Tartaros headquarters. Miles away, a towering, jagged mountain peak was easily bifurcated by this single, casual axe strike. The massive slash extended for untold kilometers, leaving a glowing, molten canyon etched deeply into the earth. The very clouds above split in two, creating a clear blue line in the gloomy sky.
Seeing that terrifying, world-ending slash cleanly carve through the horizon, everyone else fighting on the battlefield was paralyzed with fright.
"Waaaaah!!"
"What the hell was that?!!"
"This guy Ren... his attacks are way too absurd every single time!!"
The members of the Fairy Tail Guild, scattered across the ruins, couldn't help but scream their complaints while ducking for cover. They collectively made a mental note: in the future, they absolutely needed to stay as far away from Ren as physically possible during his battles. Even if Ren wasn't aiming at them, just being caught in the accidental crossfire of his casual swings would be an unmitigated disaster.
"Master Mard Geer!"
Seeing Ren's casual mountain-splitting attack, Demon Gate Kyoka momentarily dropped her guard, her eyes widening in sheer, unadulterated terror for the Underworld King's safety.
Thump!
Erza Scarlet did not miss the opening. Clad in her heavy armor, the Titania ruthlessly pivoted, driving a devastating, armor-plated kick directly into Kyoka's face. The sickening crunch of impact echoed as the demoness was sent hurtling backward, crashing violently through three stone pillars before coming to a halt.
Erza landed gracefully, resting her sword over her shoulder. She glared coldly at the battered demon. "You should worry about yourself instead!"
As for Ren, Erza wasn't worried in the slightest. Ren's current transformation was entirely unfathomable, a manifestation of pure, unrivaled power. And even if this form somehow proved insufficient, he still had the 'Minato Namikaze' transformation in reserve. No matter how strong Mard Geer Tartaros claimed to be, Erza knew with absolute certainty that the demon wouldn't even be a warm-up match for Ren.
"This man..."
A flash of genuine dread passed over the skeletal face of Keyes, the Black Archbishop. He floated a safe distance away, gripping his staff tightly. Although he had long heard rumors from Kyoka that Fairy Tail's 'Ren' was an unnatural monster, seeing that apocalyptic strike with his own eyes made him realize the rumors were severely downplaying the truth. He was incomprehensibly strong.
"He's not just 'this man' as you so casually put it!" Juvia Lockser declared proudly, water swirling violently around her graceful form. "He is the absolute strongest man in our Fairy Tail, Ren-sama!"
As a former enemy of Fairy Tail and a former S-Class Mage of the Phantom Lord guild, Juvia knew better than anyone just how hopelessly overwhelming Ren was. It could be said that as long as Ren stood on the battlefield, Fairy Tail would never, ever face defeat. He was their ultimate, unbreakable shield and their most devastating sword.
"What a terrifying guy! This is even more terrifying than the monstrous strength he showed during the Grand Magic Games!"
Standing atop a ridge of rubble, Silver Fullbuster crossed his arms and let out a long, impressed sigh as he watched the distant mountain slowly collapse into a pile of rubble from Ren's slash.
"You watched the Grand Magic Games?"
Gray Fullbuster stood a few dozen yards away, his chest heaving slightly, his eyes locked onto Silver. Originally, he and Juvia had been fighting Keyes the Black Archbishop together, but this mysterious, scarred man had suddenly appeared and separated him from the group without a word. The opponent utilized Ice Demon Slayer Magic, an incredibly potent form of magic that seemed specifically designed to counter and overpower Gray's own Ice-Make magic.
"Of course!" Silver smirked, his dark eyes glinting with amusement. "The Grand Magic Games is a very interesting little human festival. We demons from the Books of Zeref always need to find some fun to pass the time when we have nothing else to do."
Silver paused, his smirk morphing into a mocking sneer as he looked Gray up and down. "However, compared to the other monsters in your guild, your performance was far too pathetic! Not to mention, you didn't even participate in the tournament events, and you actually lost to your senior brother, Lyon, in the battle portion, didn't you?"
Gray flinched slightly, his fists clenching at his sides.
"How incredibly embarrassing!" Silver taunted, shaking his head in mock pity. "To think you're a Mage who specializes in Ice Magic. Aren't you basically the weakest Mage in Fairy Tail?"
Gray didn't explode into rage. He didn't scream or allow himself to be provoked by Silver's biting words. Instead, his dark eyes grew incredibly cold and focused. He took a steadying breath, his magical power stabilizing into an icy, unyielding calm.
"Maybe," Gray replied seriously, locking eyes with the demon.
Silver's eyebrows twitched, a flash of genuine annoyance crossing his face. "You really have zero ambition, boy!"
"Say whatever you want," Gray retorted, dropping into a low combat stance, frost rapidly forming over his hands. "But none of it matters. Tartaros is finished anyway."
Elsewhere on the chaotic battlefield, the multi-armed demon Ezel was frozen in place.
"That guy... he actually cut through a massive mountain with just the wind from his swing?!" Ezel stammered, his demonic eyes bulging out of his skull.
"This monster! Doesn't he have any weaker transformations?!" Gajeel Redfox groaned, slapping a hand over his face.
Gajeel honestly didn't know what to say anymore. Since the very first day he had met Ren back during the guild war with Phantom Lord, Ren had consistently displayed unparalleled, god-like strength. In the arena, Gajeel had been completely crushed, humbled, and humiliated by Ren's overwhelming power.
Since that bitter defeat, the Iron Dragon Slayer had been training like a madman, pushing his body to the absolute brink to make himself stronger. Every single time Gajeel thought the gap between his strength and Ren's had finally closed, he would discover that Ren had somehow pulled even further ahead, accelerating into a realm of power that shouldn't even exist.
Now, standing amidst the ruins of Tartaros, Gajeel realized he couldn't even see Ren's back anymore. The gap was no longer a chasm; it was an entire universe.
However, as Gajeel watched the golden aura of the 'Sin of Pride' illuminate the dark skies of the Underworld, a sharp, toothy grin slowly stretched across his face. He realized that this wasn't a bad thing. Having a monster like that standing in front of them... no matter how terrible things got, no matter what dark gods or demons stood in their way, as long as that guy was there, it was so damn reassuring.
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