Chapter 385: Crippled
The shockwave from the massive blast slammed into Ur's ice wall, emitting a continuous, deafening roar.
The Alliance members stared at the icy barrier in sheer disbelief. They were a significant distance away from the actual epicenter of the explosion, yet the residual shockwave was still this violent. They couldn't even begin to imagine how utterly devastating the center of the blast must have been.
It took quite a while for the raging winds to finally subside. When the air cleared, Ur dispelled the ice wall.
Natsu was the first to sprint forward, with Gray hot on his heels. The rest of the Alliance, hauling the sealed bodies of the Oración Seis generals, quickly followed them toward the battlefield.
When they arrived, they were greeted by a staggering sight: a gargantuan crater spanning over a kilometer in diameter and plunging hundreds of meters into the earth. Peering over the edge, they could barely make out the bottom, though they thought they saw a figure moving around down there.
Natsu immediately prepared to jump into the crater to check things out, but Erza shot her arm out, blocking his path.
"Don't rush in. Wait here, Noah will be coming up soon," she ordered firmly.
Natsu huffed and began pacing restlessly back and forth along the rim of the crater. The Fairy Tail members all shared expressions of deep concern, while the mages from the other guilds continued to stare at the impossibly massive crater in quiet awe.
A few minutes later, Noah walked out of the crater, completely unharmed. Floating quietly through the air behind him was the battered body of Brain—or rather, Zero.
"Brain... I mean, Zero. What's his condition?" Ultear asked immediately upon seeing Noah. The rest of the group quickly turned their attention to him.
The Fairy Tail members were incredibly anxious. It wasn't that they cared whether Brain lived or died—they were just terrified that Noah might have accidentally killed the man and crossed the ultimate line of taking a human life.
"He's still alive. I was very careful to hold back and control my output," Noah assured them, shaking his head.
With a gesture, he brought Zero's body forward so everyone could get a good look at his condition.
Zero's clothes were entirely shredded. He was covered from head to toe in deep cuts and bruises, drenched in his own blood, and his breathing was incredibly shallow and weak.
"My last attack carried a very strong purification property. It seems like it completely eradicated his violent alternate personality, and the mental backlash dealt severe damage to his psyche," Noah explained to the group. "Whether it was due to the purification or the mental shock, his magic reserves have been completely drained. He won't ever be able to use magic again."
Hearing this, everyone nodded in understanding. Given the atrocities the leader of the Oración Seis had committed, death would have been a fitting punishment. Stripping him of his magic and leaving him alive to face justice was the absolute best-case scenario. As far as the Alliance was concerned, any other lingering injuries were minor details.
However, the girls who lived with Noah, as well as Ur, who had far more worldly experience, seemed to catch something unsaid in Noah's explanation. They all cast knowing glances at him. When Noah offered them a small, reassuring smile, they chose not to press the issue in front of the others, silently agreeing to ask him for the full details later in private.
Seeing that the rest of the group accepted his explanation without a second thought, Noah let out a quiet sigh of relief.
In truth, the reason Noah had stayed at the bottom of the crater before coming up was specifically to 'handle' Brain.
For a criminal of Brain's caliber, the Magic Council would almost certainly sentence him to death or permanent life imprisonment. However, Noah refused to leave things to chance. What if Brain managed to break out of prison? Or what if some unforeseen circumstance set him free? Having a master manipulator with a deep-seated grudge against Fairy Tail wandering the world was a risk Noah was not willing to take.
Therefore, Noah decided to give Brain the exact same treatment he had given Jose Porla: permanently crippling his ability to use magic.
However, upon inspecting Brain at the bottom of the crater, Noah realized the situation was slightly different than he had anticipated.
After being hit by Noah's ultimate purification attack, less than ten percent of Brain's vile, monstrous magic remained. His inner personality, Zero, had genuinely been completely eradicated by the sacred light, leaving only the original 'Brain' personality behind. The abrupt destruction of his alter ego had inflicted catastrophic trauma on Brain's mind and soul. Exactly what kind of lasting brain damage he had suffered wouldn't be known until he actually woke up.
Even in this pathetic state, Noah still wasn't satisfied. He proceeded to fully cripple Brain, aggressively bleeding out the last remnants of his magical power until it completely dissipated into the atmosphere, ensuring the man's magical container was permanently shattered. Only after securing this outcome did Noah bring Brain up to the surface.
Once he finished explaining, Noah cast a standard magical seal over Brain, securing him just like the rest.
"Alright! That marks the successful completion of the Oración Seis subjugation mission!" Gray grinned, letting out a long breath of relief as the final general was officially sealed.
"Not quite. We still have one more thing to take care of," Noah corrected him, shaking his head.
"Hmm? What else is there?" Erza asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Hold on a second, I need to bring some people over," Noah replied. Without another word, he activated his Spatial Magic and vanished from sight.
Less than a minute later, he reappeared, bringing a large group of people with him.
"Mirajane? You guys came too?" Sorano gasped in surprise, instantly spotting Mirajane, Wendy, and the others in the crowd.
"Noah-niichan brought us here!" Wendy smiled brightly, waving at the group.
"So, you guys managed to take down the Oración Seis?" Mirajane asked, looking at the neatly lined-up bodies of the defeated dark mages.
"Yeah, we just finished wrapping things up," Ultear confirmed.
"Mr. Noah, why did you bring them all here? Is there a problem?" Jura asked.
"Well, do you guys remember what the Oración Seis's ultimate goal was in the first place?" Noah asked the group.
"I remember. They wanted to seize control of the super-magic, Nirvana," Hibiki answered instantly.
"Exactly. And now, we need to properly handle this magic," Noah said. He gestured to the people he had just brought with him. "These people are the ones most intimately connected to Nirvana. They are the descendants of the Nirvit, the ancient tribe that originally created the magic. I brought them here to witness its destruction, as they've asked me to dismantle it once and for all."
The Alliance members turned their attention to Roubaul and the other Nirvit descendants standing alongside Mirajane's group.
"Wow, so the Nirvit tribe were the ones who created Nirvana?" Lucy gasped in surprise.
"I had no idea you guys were capable of something that powerful," Gray added, looking at Roubaul with newfound respect.
"Sigh..." Roubaul let out a heavy, sorrowful sigh, choosing not to respond.
"Noah, you know exactly what kind of magic Nirvana is, right? Do you have any countermeasures in place to ensure we aren't affected by it?" Hibiki asked, his expression turning incredibly serious.
Even after learning that Noah had spoken with the creators' descendants, Hibiki couldn't afford to let his guard down. Nirvana was simply far too dangerous of a concept. He needed to be absolutely certain they were protected. If Noah was planning to dismantle it, he must have prepared some form of defense against the magic's alignment-inverting effects. Hibiki wanted to confirm those countermeasures so he could properly analyze the risks.
"Yes, of course I do. Before we unseal Nirvana to destroy it, I will cast a protective enchantment over everyone here. This barrier will perfectly shield your minds and souls from any external influence," Noah answered seriously, understanding Hibiki's concern. "I assume Master Bob told you about Nirvana's true nature?"
"That's a huge relief," Hibiki sighed, a visible weight lifting off his shoulders. "And yes, Master Bob pulled me aside right before we left and explained the specifics to me. That's when I learned just how uniquely terrifying this magic is. Because of that, Ichiya-san and the others actually don't know the full details."
Hearing this, Ichiya, Ren, and Eve didn't seem bothered in the slightest. Hibiki was their guild's tactical commander and strategist; it made perfect sense for him to be entrusted with highly classified information that the front-line fighters didn't need to know. Since Hibiki was confident in Noah's plan, the rest of Blue Pegasus had no objections.
Jura had known Noah for quite a while and had absolute faith in both the boy's character and his overwhelming power, so he naturally supported the decision as well. And with Jura on board, Yuka and Sherry had no reason to complain.
With everyone in agreement, Noah decided to quickly clean up the battlefield—specifically, the apocalyptic damage he himself had caused.
Noah clapped his hands together, and a massive surge of magic rippled from his body. A brilliant golden magic circle materialized beneath his boots, spinning rapidly.
To the absolute shock of the Alliance, endless streams of earth and soil began rapidly churning upward from the bottom of the colossal crater. Within seconds, the kilometer-wide abyss was completely filled and leveled perfectly flat.
Immediately following that, thousands of saplings burst from the freshly turned soil, rapidly growing into towering, ancient trees right before their eyes. The barren, devastated wasteland was instantly transformed back into a lush, incredibly dense forest.
Those who had never seen Noah perform this kind of wide-scale restoration were left completely speechless. Natsu, however, was thrilled.
"Noah! From now on, you have to come with me and fix all the collateral damage I cause on jobs!" Natsu cheered, his eyes sparkling.
"Absolutely not. You break it, you fix it. I've already rejected this exact request dozens of times, why are you still asking?" Noah rolled his eyes, shooting Natsu down instantly.
When Natsu destroyed things out in the wilderness, it wasn't a huge deal. But more often than not, Natsu leveled entire city blocks. There was absolutely no way Noah was going to act as his personal cleanup crew.
Shot down again, Natsu instantly deflated, slumping his shoulders in defeat. Seeing his dramatic reaction, the rest of Fairy Tail couldn't help but laugh out loud.
For the non-Fairy Tail members, witnessing this casual display of terraforming gave them a whole new terrifying perspective on Noah's abilities. Rebuilding on a massive scale was exponentially harder than destroying. The fact that Noah had perfectly restored a one-kilometer crater into a dense forest without breaking a single sweat or showing any signs of magical exhaustion left them in absolute awe.
As a master of Earth Magic, Jura knew he could theoretically fill a crater of that size. But it would require a grueling amount of time, concentration, and magical stamina. He could never do it instantly, and he certainly couldn't do it as effortlessly as Noah just had. The gap between their abilities was truly staggering.
Having erased the scars of his battle, Noah raised his hand, preparing to teleport the group to Nirvana's sealed location.
Suddenly, he froze. His brow furrowed deeply, and he slowly lowered his hand.
"Noah, what's wrong?" Ultear asked, immediately noticing the sharp shift in his demeanor.
"We have some uninvited guests. It seems we need to welcome them first," Noah said, shaking his head slowly.
"Uninvited guests?" Sorano asked, tilting her head.
"I smell a ton of really foul scents heading straight toward us," Natsu declared, his expression turning deadly serious as he sniffed the air.
"Natsu-niichan is right. There's a massive group of people surrounding us," Wendy confirmed nervously.
Hearing the two Dragon Slayers, everyone instantly dropped into combat stances, scanning the surrounding forest with heightened vigilance.
"Here they come!" Ur warned the group, her eyes narrowing as she sensed the approaching hostile auras.
The moment she spoke, a massive horde of figures began pouring out from behind the trees—the very trees Noah hadn't created. The sheer number of enemies was staggering; there easily had to be over a thousand of them. Every single one of them was glaring at Noah and the Alliance with naked malice.
"We never got a check-in from the Oración Seis, so we came to see what was holding them up, Aniki!"
"Yeah! We heard a massive explosion over here, so we came to check it out, Aniki!"
Two incredibly distinct individuals—both possessing features that looked remarkably like monkeys—stepped out from the front of the horde and addressed the Alliance.
"Who are you people?!" Erza demanded, instantly Requipping a sword and pointing it squarely at them.
"Woah! It's monkeys! There are two actual monkeys!" Natsu yelled, pointing at the two leaders without a shred of tact.
"Aye! Two whole monkeys!" Happy echoed from behind him.
"Now is really not the time for this!" Lucy screamed, her panic spiking.
The murderous intent rolling off the massive crowd was suffocating; these were clearly enemies. Excluding the non-combatant Nirvit villagers Noah had just brought over, the Alliance had less than twenty capable fighters. The numbers disadvantage was utterly horrifying, and Lucy was visibly terrified.
"We are the Naked Mummy guild, serving directly under the Oración Seis!" one of the monkey-men announced proudly.
"Yahoo! Let's play!" the other monkey-man cackled.
"Didn't they say there were only five enemies?" Carla asked, her face turning grim as the massive army tightened its encirclement.
"Don't worry, Carla! I've been practicing, and I can protect you now!" Wendy declared, clenching her small fists determinedly. She hadn't neglected her offensive magic training recently, and she was finally starting to build some confidence in her combat abilities.
"We'll fight too, Carla. You don't need to be afraid," Yukino and Meredy chimed in, standing protectively alongside the young Dragon Slayer.
"I will protect you!" Happy declared bravely, grabbing a sturdy wooden stick from the ground and stepping bravely in front of Carla.
Carla rolled her eyes dramatically, but she didn't push Happy away.
"Dark Unicorn?!"
The mages of Blue Pegasus suddenly recognized several members in the crowd, identifying them as part of the dark guild, Dark Unicorn.
"It looks like the Oración Seis rallied every single dark guild under their banner and stationed them all in this forest," Hibiki realized. He instantly brought up his Archive screens, rapidly scanning the crowd and identifying the various guild marks.
"Perfect timing!" Natsu grinned viciously, slamming his fists together.
"No kidding. It's the perfect chance to wipe all these dark guilds out in one fell swoop!" Gray agreed, cracking his knuckles. Both of them were rapidly stretching their muscles, eager to let loose and brawl.
The rest of the Alliance tightened their grips on their weapons, fully prepared to wage war against the dark army.
"No. Stand down. I'll handle this," Noah suddenly ordered, stepping to the absolute front of the group.
One look at Noah's face told them everything they needed to know. He was absolutely furious.
A suffocating, ocean-deep aura of pure golden magic began erupting from Noah's body. The sheer pressure of his magic physically warped the air around him, generating gale-force winds that forced his own allies to stagger backward.
"Whoa... what's wrong with Noah?" Natsu asked, instantly dropping his combat stance and turning to Ultear and the others with genuine concern.
"I'm not entirely sure... but he is incredibly pissed off right now," Mirajane observed softly, staring at Noah's back.
"Yeah, no kidding," Gray muttered, sweating slightly.
Noah's magical output continued to skyrocket exponentially. With every step he took forward, the solid ground beneath his boots shattered, sending spiderwebs of deep fissures racing across the earth.
The sheer, apocalyptic pressure radiating from Noah slammed into the dark guilds like a physical wall. The overwhelming terror gripped their hearts, and the massive army of over a thousand dark mages instinctively took a step back, the overwhelming urge to turn and run for their lives warring against their orders.
~~~
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