Blinding white light devoured heaven and earth.
As Fairy Law activated, it felt as though the sun had fallen from the sky; golden radiance surged through the guild like a tide, then swept across the entire city of Magnolia.
The moment stretched on for what felt like a century, yet also seemed to last only an instant.
When the piercing gold finally faded, Laxus, gasping, ignored the pain and looked around in haste.
Erza, Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, and even Hope outside the gate had been scoured by the Super Mental-Deterrent Magic; they stood frozen, bleached white statues without the slightest hint of living color.
Beyond the gate, wherever Fairy Law had reached—Magnolia's residents, streets, houses, the very outline of the city—everything was like a pencil sketch erased by an eraser, its colors silently stripped away by the sacred light of ruinous mental force.
The guild, the city, the voices, the lights… everything familiar, hated, meant to be surpassed or destroyed, was now a despairing white.
The whole city was swallowed by deathly silence.
"D-did it work?"
Laxus muttered, voice hoarse. "I… won?"
He had succeeded—swept away everyone who stood in his way, who denied him—so why did he feel no joy, only a cold, expanding emptiness?
The Master's disappointed gaze, Natsu's defiant roar, Erza's final plea, even the laughter of passers-by talking about Fairy Tail… all those sounds and images that once annoyed him now flooded his mind.
They were no longer noise; they were the only proof that this world had once been alive.
"What… have I done…"
Laxus fell to his knees, voice dry.
Trembling, he raised his hands; they still held the lingering heat of the super-spell's mana, yet he felt nothing but an icy chill.
Without comrades' clamor, without the Master's nagging, without a city to protect—what meaning could this so-called "strongest" possibly have?
He'd thought he despised the weakness brought by bonds, only to realize now that what he had destroyed was the most important part of his life.
What have I done?
The golden lightning scattered into motes of light. Laxus curled on the ground, nails clawing the floor, a dying-animal sob tearing from his throat.
"No… I didn't want this…"
At last he understood: what he longed for was never power or ruin, but comrades' recognition, to be needed, to be called "family".
Yet his deliberate distance had pushed those very comrades beyond reach.
Now the comrades were gone, the guild was gone.
His dear grandfather, the unconditionally loyal Thunder God Tribe, the ever-noisy "family"… he had erased every last one of their minds from the world.
"Come back… I only wanted the guild to grow stronger…"
Laxus screamed at the empty ruins, voice breaking. "I was wrong… come back!"
Only the wind answered him.
The lonely thunder finally died in the silence he had created, extinguished by regret.
Suddenly the monochrome sky shifted; a familiar blue cat-face with a goofy grin filled the heavens.
Laxus glanced to the second floor. Struck by Fairy Law and bleached white by the severe mental trauma, Happy suddenly sensed something wrong.
Fairy Law consumes not only mana but also the caster's life-force when it hits an enemy.
Yet he felt only mana draining; his life-force hadn't changed in the slightest.
The next instant the black-and-white world collapsed; Laxus jolted awake to find Happy's feline face inches from his own.
Startled by Laxus's fierce glare, Happy zipped to Natsu's shoulder in a whoosh.
Natsu, bandaged, laughed without a shred of sympathy. "Serves you right, Happy; you woke Laxus up by sticking so close."
Seeing the bandaged Natsu moving about and the lively comrades inside the guild, Laxus instantly knew what had happened.
He shot a vicious glare at Mystogan chatting happily with a little girl nearby. "Damn it! Sneak-attacking me with illusions—are you that scared I'd actually cast Fairy Law?"
Mystogan looked back at the irate Laxus and shook his head in disdain, saying gently to the little girl, "Wendy, never be like that guy—when you train, don't forget to bring your brain along."
"Bastard! Are you ignoring me?"
Already furious at being played, Laxus sprang up—only to find himself bound by rope, unable to move or even channel mana.
"Stop struggling; blocking mana is the one and only useful function of Cat Magic."
A smug voice came from behind.
Hope tossed a Recording Magic Crystal in his hand, looking down at the defiant Laxus. "You don't think Mystogan broke your Fairy Law with an illusion, do you?"
Let me make it crystal-clear: you finished casting Fairy Law first; only then did I have Mystogan trap you in an illusion.
"Impossible! With that surge of mana, how could all of you be unharmed?!" Laxus roared.
"Because of your heart."
Erza, also bandaged, walked over and helped the struggling Laxus sit up. "From the Master you inherited more than vast natural mana—you also inherited a heart that cares for your comrades."
"Fairy Law strikes everyone the caster deems an enemy, Laxus. You can lie to yourself, but you can't lie to your true feelings."
"You never wanted to hurt your comrades."
As her last words fell, Laxus froze for a moment; he had already faced the truth inside the illusion, yet he still barked, "What comrades?! Whoever gets in my way is an enemy—an enemy!!"
Amid his roar, a sharp magical projection appeared on the guild-hall wall.
On-screen, Laxus lay curled on the ground, clutching his head and sobbing, "I was wrong… come back!"
The scene shifted; the new footage had been edited, looping Laxus's tear-streaked breakdown in a crazed, stuttering replay.
His cries of "I was wrong" and "Come back" were remixed into a brain-numbing, ear-worm track, playing over and over with the footage.
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