Chapter 362: There's Also Ren
Ren turned to look at Ichiya and the others.
He offered a mild smile. "Eh? Ichiya, what are you guys doing here?"
"Mr. Ren!"
Hearing Ren acknowledge them, the group instantly straightened with deep respect. In the magical world, strength was the absolute paramount rule. Ren's formidable, almost god-like power commanded unyielding reverence from everyone across the entire continent.
"We saw something bizarre towering over the landscape and came to check it out," Ichiya explained, gesturing to the massive, ominous stone pillar. "Mr. Ren, do you happen to know what this is?"
Ren glanced at the towering structure with a relaxed expression. "This? This is a weapon created by the Magic Council known as the Magic Pulse Bomb. There are 3,000 of them in total, spread deep underground across the entire continent of Ishgar, and they are designed to completely erase all magic on the continent."
"What?!"
The entire Blue Pegasus group recoiled, thoroughly horrified by the revelation.
"3,000?!" Hibiki gasped, his handsome face draining of color.
"All the magic on the continent erased?! Doesn't that mean..." Eve trailed off, unable to finish the terrifying thought.
None of them were fools; everyone present acutely understood the apocalyptic consequences of magic being permanently erased from their world. Society as they knew it would collapse overnight.
"But don't worry, I've already destroyed 2,999 of them," Ren said casually, waving his hand as if discussing a trivial chore. "This is the very last one. Once it's dealt with, my work here is officially done."
The group stood completely dumbfounded by his words. Ren had actually hunted down and destroyed 2,999 of these catastrophic weapons in the span of a single battle. Meanwhile, their pride and joy, the magical bomber Christina, had fired its main cannon at this single pillar without leaving so much as a scratch on its surface.
"I'm going to make my move now," Ren announced.
He raised his right hand, condensing a dense, violently spinning sphere of blue chakra in his palm. Within seconds, razor-sharp blades of wind formed around the sphere, expanding rapidly.
Buzz buzz buzz—!
The Wind Release: Rasenshuriken cut violently through the air, emitting a piercing, high-frequency roar that forced the Blue Pegasus mages to cover their ears.
"Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!!"
Ren seamlessly hurled the massive vortex of microscopic wind blades straight toward the unyielding hull of the Face bomb.
Ichiya, Hibiki, and the others tensely held their breath, their eyes glued to the blinding projectile.
Boom—!!
The Rasenshuriken collided with Face, instantly and effortlessly slicing its incredibly durable structure perfectly in half. A split second later, the technique violently detonated, unleashing a localized dome of molecular destruction that completely obliterated the weapon from existence.
"Face was just..."
"So powerful!!"
The group knew Ren was impossibly strong, but witnessing his casual, devastating might up close still shocked them to their core every single time.
Ren brushed the dust off his hands and clapped them together. "Alright, job's done."
Hibiki immediately stepped forward, trying to regain his composure. "Mr. Ren, since you're already here, why not come back to Blue Pegasus with us so we can host you properly?"
They all vividly remembered Ren defeating the colossal dragons during the Grand Magic Games and saving their lives. The Blue Pegasus guild had always kept this immense debt of gratitude firmly in their minds.
"Maybe when there's an opportunity later," Ren replied with an apologetic smile. "This is just a Clone of mine. I couldn't even enjoy your fine food right now if I wanted to. Goodbye."
Poof!
Immediately after Ren finished speaking, his physical form vanished entirely, dissipating into a harmless cloud of white smoke that drifted away in the wind.
"A... Clone?!" Ichiya shouted, his jaw hitting the floor.
"He was this unfathomably powerful just as a Clone?!" Eve stuttered, his eyes wide with disbelief.
Hibiki suddenly grabbed his hair, a look of sheer terror crossing his features. "Wait! Do you remember how many Faces Ren said there were?"
"3,000..."
The group was left completely dumbstruck in the devastated wasteland. Three thousand of these indestructible bombs were spread across the vast continent of Ishgar. If Ren had destroyed all of them simultaneously...
"What a monster!!"
Beep beep!!
[Face! OVER!]
At that exact moment, deep within the crumbling ruins of the Tartaros headquarters, the last glowing light representing Face on the main core magic crystal violently flickered and disappeared. It meant that every single one of the pulse bombs had been eradicated.
"'Face'..."
As Kyoka saw the final crimson light of 'Face' vanish from the holographic display, she felt the very end of her life rapidly approaching. Her demonic vitality was already slipping through her fingers.
"In the end... did it still fail...?" Kyoka whispered, her voice trembling with profound sorrow and regret. "I... I just... wanted to go back to Zeref's side..."
After uttering her heartbreaking plea, Kyoka's demonic eyes lost all their remaining luster. She collapsed heavily onto the shattered stone floor, her life force completely extinguished.
Erza stood over the broken body of the Nine Demon Gates' leader. She looked at the dead Kyoka and didn't feel even a fraction of the triumph typically associated with eliminating a mortal enemy.
Instead, she felt a quiet, heavy sorrow for these beings. They were living entities with their own thoughts, emotions, and desperate desires, yet they had been tragically bound by their curses and their fanatical loyalty to a dark wizard all along.
"Oooooh!!"
"Awesome!!"
"Face has been destroyed!!"
The weary members of Fairy Tail, observing all of this from a safe distance, realized the terrifying magical threat of Face had finally been neutralized. They immediately broke into joyful cheers, their exhausted voices echoing across the battlefield.
When they initially saw the thousands of Face pillars activate, unleashing blinding points of light into the sky, they truly thought the continent was doomed. They believed Fairy Tail was entirely finished.
Unexpectedly, things had taken a miraculous turn. Even though Face had been fully activated by Crawford's betrayal, it was still systematically destroyed.
Their despair quickly transformed into overwhelming excitement. Now that all the bombs were finally wiped off the map, the apocalyptic crisis was officially averted.
Makarov let out a long, shuddering breath, a proud smile forming on his weathered face. "Brat, well done!"
Suddenly!
Roar—!!
A deafening, earth-shattering sound abruptly rang out from the distant horizon, violently tearing through the joyous atmosphere.
Natsu, possessing the keenest hearing in the guild, registered the sound first. His joyous expression instantly vanished, replaced by pure, unadulterated horror. "This sound..."
Shortly after, Gajeel and Wendy both caught the violent frequency of the distant roar.
Sickening realization washed over their faces, mirroring Natsu's paralyzing dread. Gajeel's crimson pupils constricted to the size of pinpricks. "No way!"
Wendy was so overwhelmed by the sheer, suffocating terror carried on the wind that she slumped heavily to the ground. Her delicate face was pale and full of fear, her small body shaking uncontrollably. "This is..."
"What's wrong, Wendy?"
Carla was utterly puzzled to see her brave companion suddenly so profoundly frightened. The cheering died down as the surrounding guild members turned their worried gazes toward the young Dragon Slayer.
Wendy wrapped her arms around herself, speaking in a fragile, trembling voice. "It... it's here! It's here again..."
"???"
The guild members were all at a complete loss as to who or what could possibly instill such deep-seated terror in their strongest fighters.
In the center of the ruined battlefield, Underworld King Mard Geer was momentarily stunned by the shifting atmospheric pressure. "This is... this really is unexpected!"
He slowly turned his battered body to look at Ren, a dark, twisted hint of schadenfreude spreading across his bloodied face. "We, Tartaros, have definitively lost here today. But you, Fairy Tail, haven't won either! The true end of all things is here!"
Ren had naturally sensed the approaching calamity as well, detecting it even earlier than the Dragon Slayers. In his blazing golden Kurama Link Mode, his sensory perception range was incredibly vast, easily covering the entirety of the surrounding skies.
Ren's expression grew incredibly serious as he stared up at the darkening clouds.
To be completely honest with himself, he didn't actually fear Acnologia. He had a vast arsenal of overpowered Take Over characters at his immediate disposal. By taking over the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, he possessed the Flying Thunder God Technique—the absolute fastest spatial movement in the world.
As long as he wanted to evade the beast, Acnologia wouldn't even dream of catching him, no matter how fast the dragon could fly.
He could also seamlessly Take Over Ulquiorra Cifer and utilize the spatial tearing technique, Descorrer. That alone would allow him to open a Garganta and effortlessly travel to entirely different dimensions, such as Edolas.
In either scenario, he could easily ensure that he, along with every single member of Fairy Tail, stayed perfectly alive and out of the Black Dragon's reach.
However, rather than running away from the incoming apocalypse, a primal spark ignited within his chest. He actively wanted to fight Acnologia.
He wanted to fairly and squarely defeat this catastrophic entity—the undeniable monster who sat comfortably at the absolute ceiling of the Fairy Tail world's power scaling.
Natsu clutched his chest, shouting with a distorted expression as his instincts screamed at him to flee. "This sound... there's absolutely no mistake! It's Acnologia!!!"
As Acnologia's massive form rapidly approached from the heavens, the dark clouds parting before his immense magical pressure, the older members of Fairy Tail finally recognized the impending doom.
Cana dropped to her knees, screaming at the top of her lungs, "It's Acnologia!!"
"What?!"
"Is it that Acnologia?! That... that one, that one, that one!!"
"The one that completely blew away Tenrou Island?!"
Some of the veterans from the seven-year group were already spiraling into a deep panic. Even the newer members of Fairy Tail, who hadn't been present during that tragedy, had clearly heard the terrifying legends of Acnologia.
After all, the harrowing story of the Fairy Tail elites being effortlessly wiped out by a single dragon seven years ago was widely circulated across the globe.
Cana's eyes were utterly devoid of hope, brimming with tears of absolute despair. "It's coming... that suffocating despair... it's happening all over again..."
Soon, the sky turned pitch black as a massive, rune-covered Black Dragon violently charged over the battlefield, casting a colossal shadow over the trembling mages below.
"It's here!!"
"Is that really Acnologia?!"
"Are we going to die..."
Elfman shouted loudly, "Don't just give up like that! Ren! We still have Ren!!"
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