On the duelist platform, the projections of three Harpie Ladies stood side by side. Their green wings were slightly spread. The sharp talons hanging at their sides glinted coldly.
Behind them, a dark red Western dragon lay dormant, its mouth full of fangs, its eyes staring ferociously at Lucy across the way.
After more than ten rounds of attack and defense, Lucy's field had been completely cleared. Even her life points had been reduced to a pitiful 200!
"Ahaha! This is what happens when you fight a noble fairy!"
Evergreen used the cards in her hand as a folding fan, covering half her face, laughing loudly. "Give up! If you surrender now, you won't lose too embarrassingly!"
Four card monsters and 3000 life points versus an empty field and 200 life points. The advantage was clear at a glance.
Watching from the sidelines, Chase couldn't help but feel that Evergreen's laugh was very expressive, with a bit of Jonouchi's shadow in it.
So, what will you do next, Lucy?
Compared to Evergreen's seeming certainty of victory, Lucy was frowning, her breathing tense. Sweat beaded on her pale forehead.
If this were an ordinary card game, it wouldn't matter. But the outcome directly relates to Chase's allegiance!
Lucy knew deep down that Chase wouldn't let Laxus destroy things and hurt their comrades in the end. But precisely because of that, she didn't want to make things difficult for Chase or betray her comrades' expectations and trust.
The tremendous pressure she endured made her start to fear the next draw. When her turn ended, there was a high chance Evergreen would zero out her life points!
Her trembling hand stopped in mid-air.
The ordinary, cold deck in front of her seemed, in Lucy's eyes, like an insurmountable mountain.
"What's wrong? If you're not going to surrender, then draw! The longer you drag this out, the closer those stone statues in the guild are to breaking apart!" Evergreen urged impatiently.
The sweat on Lucy's forehead grew thicker. The environment around her turned dark.
In this deep consciousness, the deck within reach seemed to have a life of its own, slowly moving away from her until it was out of reach...
"Hey, Lucy. Don't you trust my deck that much?" Chase couldn't help but interject.
His words were like a beam of light, dispelling the darkness in Lucy's consciousness.
In her flustered state, Lucy's peripheral vision suddenly caught the Fairy Tail emblem branded on the back of her hand.
Dark Magician Girl playing and joking around, the Dark Magician's training plan, the cute, soft chestnut ball...
Various images with the card monsters surfaced, finally converged into Chase's incredibly reliable back.
Unknowingly, she had built a deep bond with Chase and the card monsters. That was the real reason she had chosen this deck in the first place!
"I... trust Chase's deck!"
Lucy no longer feared. The confusion in her eyes cleared completely. Her hand pressed firmly on the deck. "My turn. Draw!!"
The card flashed through the air. Its name: Right Arm of the Forbidden One!
"Complete. Plus these four in my hand... I actually collected them all!!"
After a brief stunned pause, Lucy couldn't help but cheer. She jumped for joy.
Before the match started, she had learned about the composition of Mutou Yugi's deck through Fūei's Glasses. She knew there was a special win condition.
That was — collecting all five pieces of Exodia the Forbidden One would result in an automatic victory!
SWISH, SWISH.
Lucy threw all five cards onto the field. Virtual light and shadows intertwined on the platform.
Across from the Harpie Lady Sisters, Exodia emerged from a five-pointed star magic circle. A single blast of Demon Flame Cannon cleared the field.
Before Evergreen even realized what was happening, her life points had already dropped to zero!
Winner: Lucy Heartfilia!
"H-How is that possible!" Evergreen's eyes went wide in disbelief. She collapsed to the ground, the cards in her hand scattering.
"Nice!"
Lucy clenched her fist, a bright smile spreading across her lips. She turned to Chase. "Chase, you're my next opponent, right? Come on! I'm terrifyingly strong right now!"
In just one short duel, she had deeply felt the charm of playing cards. She couldn't wait to go another round.
"Unforgivable! How dare you do this to a noble fairy, to me, Evergreen! Absolutely unforgivable!"
Evergreen's face dark, she left the lift and slowly walked toward Lucy, simultaneously reaching up to remove her glasses.
If she had lost the chance to recruit Chase, then neither would the opposing side!
Lucy, immersed in her joy, was suddenly startled. She was about to close her eyes to avoid the petrification magic when a dark blue figure stepped into her field of vision first.
BOOM!
The next second, the sound of stone shattering rang out.
"This is my territory, you know..."
Chase's five fingers spread, grabbing Evergreen's head and mercilessly slamming her onto the cracked floor.
Under the heavy blow, Evergreen's hair was disheveled. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. She looked very embarrassed.
Even so, as a staunch supporter of Laxus, she still
tried her best to move her head, wanting to use her petrification eyes to eliminate the unpredictable factor — Chase.
But how could Chase make such a basic mistake?
The force of his hand immediately increased. "Attempting to attack the neutral party has already violated the game rules. As punishment, Ever, you need to relieve everyone's petrification."
"Don't even think about it!" Evergreen gritted her teeth.
"Oh? So you want to end up on the front page of tomorrow's paper like Gajeel?" Chase smiled.
His incredibly sinister expression made even Lucy involuntarily hug herself and step back. "Like Gajeel? Stripped and hung from a tower?!"
Evergreen had been ready to die than surrender, but Lucy's reminder instantly left her dumbfounded.
"I'll do it! I'll do it!" She immediately caved.
"Then I'll leave it to you~" Chase put away his smile, which was more frightening than a demon's.
He was actually gentle. He wouldn't really do something like that to a girl like Evergreen. But if she had continued to be stubborn, he would have had to use Brain Control on her!
The moment the petrification magic was lifted, Freed's rune panel synchronized and updated the relevant information.
Makarov, at the guild, noticed the message immediately. He spun around to look at the stage. Mira, Dark Magician Girl, and the others had indeed all returned to normal!
Natsu, who had been waiting impatiently, didn't care about anything else. He ran over wanting to find someone to fight — in his eyes, there was only the Fairy Tail strongest battle. He didn't care if his opponents were a group of delicate beauties or all "teammates."
This kind of idiocy was naturally harshly suppressed by Makarov.
After some earnest reasoning (and physical persuasion), Natsu finally calmed down.
Just as Makarov was about to confirm the action plan with Mira and the others, the rune text at the guild entrance floated in, building a blood-red skull.
"That damn Chase! How dare he break the game rules!"
Laxus's low, cold voice came from within. "But it's fine. I made a backup plan."
"Did you think freeing the hostages would end the civil war, old man? Heh. Don't even think about it!"
"To keep the game going, this time, the whole town is the stakes. Thunder Palace, with its thirty-minute time limit, has already been activated! Ahahaha!"
The piercing, mad laughter startled Makarov. "You planted something that dangerous in the town? Have you lost your mind, Laxus?!"
Thunder Palace was composed of nearly 300 magic crystals filled with lightning magic.
If the crystals weren't all destroyed at once before activation, countless thunderbolts would rain down. The power would be enough to destroy an entire city!
"Old man, you forced me into this!"
Laxus's roar came from the crimson skull. "Unless you use the trumpet to announce to all of Magnolia that I am the next master of Fairy Tail, this battle will not end!!"
"Think it over. You don't have much time..."
With that, the skull shattered and dissipated.
"That bastard!" Makarov clenched his fist tightly.
He could not hand Fairy Tail over to someone with such dangerous ideas as Laxus, even if he had been planning to retire, even if Laxus was his own grandson!
Doing so would only bring greater disaster and tragedy.
With that thought, Makarov looked at Mira seriously. "Mira, you understand the situation. I need you to take over Lidas's task and bring Porlyusica here."
The appearance of Thunder Palace had made things worse. Although Chase wouldn't disappoint him, they still needed to prepare contingency plans.
"I understand." Mira nodded.
"Mira-nee, I'll go with you!" Dark Magician Girl volunteered.
As a neutral party, she would naturally unconditionally side with Mira, who she was closest to.
"Are you sure? There's a high chance you'll end up fighting Freed, just like Lidas." Mira's expression was serious.
The one with Freed now was Dark Magician Girl's most feared master — the Dark Magician!
"Exactly why I have to go with you, Mira-nee!"
Dark Magician Girl waved her fist, her beautiful eyes sparkling with surging fighting spirit. "It's not every day you get a chance to beat up your master!"
Her abnormal, inexplicable confidence left Happy stunned. "The blonde girls in our guild are really brave today..."
"Haha! Don't worry. I have a secret weapon the master secretly gave me." Dark Magician Girl grinned.
Seeing her so confident, Mira didn't argue further.
A dark purple magic circle lit up. Mira, having received Satan Soul, turned into a streak of light with Dark Magician Girl and flew straight toward the eastern forest.
Cana, Juvia, and the others also began to move, searching for Laxus's location while also researching how to destroy the dense lightning magic crystals high in the sky.
Natsu and Gajeel, still unable to leave, could only watch everyone else leave the guild. Their resentment toward Freed reached its limit.
"Um... since it's also magic based on words, let me try to rewrite Freed's runes."
Levy, who hadn't left with the others, walked over.
Her words made Natsu and Gajeel's eyes light up. They were excited.
Just then, the information panel at the entrance updated again: [Lucy failed to convince neutral party Chase]
"Ooooh! Two pieces of good news at once!" Natsu couldn't help but cheer.
Gajeel pointed at the panel and shouted angrily, "Idiot! Look carefully! How is that good news?!"
Natsu argued back of course, "What do you know?! If Chase joined our side, I couldn't fight him anymore!"
"Uh..."
Levy's mouth twitched. She smiled awkwardly, not sure how to twitch.
Setting aside the reason, with Laxus's location unknown, recruiting Chase was indeed the top priority.
"If you're scared, just find a corner to hide in when we get out," Natsu taunted.
Hearing this, Gajeel instinctively stepped back, showing fear.
He recalled the scene of being mercilessly crushed by Chase that night. He was still haunted by it.
Fighting a monster like that was just asking for trouble...
Even so, Gajeel still shouted, trying to appear calm, "Wh-What are you talking about?! You think I'm afraid of him?!"
Truly the Iron Dragon Slayer. His mouth is hard!
Just as Levy ignored the two idiots and started analyzing Freed's runes...
On the other side of Magnolia, at the cathedral.
Creak.
The tightly shut door was gently pushed open.
Light streamed in, casting a long shadow of a figure in a black cloak, carrying five magic staffs on their back.
"Oh? I didn't expect you to join the fight, and find your way here first."
Laxus, standing in the center of the cathedral, slowly turned around, a twisted smile on his face. "Mystogan..."
"Stop this boring action now. I'll pretend nothing ever happened." Mystogan's voice was calm and cold.
"Operation Boring? This is the Battle of Fairy Tail!"
Laxus spread his arms wide, electricity arcing at his fingertips. "The outside world is always discussing who is the strongest among you, me, and Chase. But that person can only be me!"
"Did you forget Erza and Mira?" Mystogan asked.
"Those two women are barely passable, but still too weak!"
"Erza and Mira are too weak? Are you awake?"
"More importantly, Mystogan, I've heard about your background. The prince of Edolas."
This made Mystogan's pupils sharply contract. "Where did you hear that?!"
"Who knows? Beat me, and I'll tell you." Laxus squinted his eyes.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Successfully provoked, Mystogan stopped persuading. He activated the staffs on his back and attacked Laxus.
As the cool, special effects-filled magic circles collided, their battle officially began!
***
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