Chapter XXIII: Extalia, A Chilling Warning, & The Wrath of Saiyans
Rescue in the Chaos
The moment Lucy summoned Scorpio, the district erupted into total pandemonium. Sand swirled in devastating torrents, reducing Royal Army formations to scattered, disoriented soldiers stumbling through the artificial desert storm. But even through the chaos, it was clear their Lucy was operating on borrowed time.
"She's been fighting for hours," Carla observed, her analytical mind noting the tremor in Lucy's stance and the way her magical energy flickered with exhaustion. "Her celestial magic is nearly depleted."
Natsu didn't wait for tactical planning. His new flame sword ignited as he charged directly into the melee, cutting through Royal Army soldiers with a combination of Dragon Slayer fire and crystallized flame that left molten metal in his wake.
"LUCY!" he roared, his voice carrying over the battlefield. "WE'RE HERE!"
The reaction was immediate and emotional. Lucy's eyes widened with disbelief, then filled with tears as she saw familiar faces cutting through the chaos toward her.
"Natsu? But how—the Anima got everyone—"
Her moment of distraction nearly cost her everything. A Royal Army captain materialized behind her, his blade raised for a killing stroke. The attack never landed.
Cumber appeared between them with speed that left afterimages, his hand catching the captain's wrist and stopping the blade inches from Lucy's neck. His blue eyes were calm, but his grip was crushing bone.
"You were saying?" he asked the captain conversationally, then casually tossed the armored soldier through three buildings.
"Cumber!" Lucy threw her arms around him in relief. "You're alive! You're all alive!"
"Most of us," Wendy corrected grimly as she used her new Air Shatter Cannon to create a protective barrier around them. "We're here to get everyone back."
The reunion was cut short as more Royal Army reinforcements arrived. These weren't the standard soldiers they'd been fighting—these were elite units with equipment designed specifically for high-level magical combat.
"Anti-magic binding nets," Uruk identified, analyzing the weapons being deployed against them. "Designed to suppress and contain magical abilities through direct contact."
Gine stepped forward, her blue ki flaring as she studied the incoming threat. "Too bad for them our abilities aren't purely magical."
What followed was a masterclass in coordinated combat. The Saiyan family moved with practiced precision, their ki-based attacks rendering the Royal Army's anti-magic equipment useless. Gine's analytical strikes targeted weak points in armor and formation, while Uruk's scholarly approach turned each soldier's equipment against them.
Kizuna had found his rhythm in this world. His golden energy seemed to resonate with Edolas's magical field in ways that amplified his natural abilities. When he moved, reality briefly bent around him, creating localized distortions that made him nearly impossible to target.
But it was Teilanne who truly demonstrated the gap between worlds.
The Saiyan matriarch stood in the center of the battlefield like an immovable force of nature. Royal Army soldiers attacked her with everything they had—magical weapons, binding spells, coordinated tactical assaults. None of it mattered.
She caught arrows in mid-flight, deflected magical blasts with casual gestures, and when a squad of elite soldiers attempted to surround her with binding nets, she simply expanded her crimson aura and disintegrated the weapons at a molecular level.
"Your equipment is impressive," she told the remaining soldiers with polite interest. "But you're fighting with principles that don't apply to us."
Meanwhile, Natsu and Lucy were working together like they'd never been separated. His flame sword created openings that she exploited with precision celestial magic, summoning specific spirits for tactical advantages rather than brute force attacks.
"Horologium!" Lucy called, and the massive clock spirit materialized to provide mobile cover.
"Virgo!" The maid spirit emerged from the ground beneath enemy formations, creating sinkholes that swallowed entire squads.
"How are the others?" Natsu asked between sword strikes, his flames carving through another wave of soldiers. "Gray, Erza, the guild—"
"Converted to Lacrima," Lucy replied, her voice breaking slightly. "I was out on a solo mission when it happened. I've been trying to find a way to rescue them, but the Royal City's defenses are—"
"We know," Wendy interrupted, using wind magic to create a temporary calm zone around them. "We've seen what they're doing to everyone."
The mention of their friends' fate reignited the rage that Cumber had barely managed to control earlier. His power spiked again, golden energy mixing with silver crash magic in patterns that made the air itself unstable.
"They're using our family as batteries," he said quietly, his voice carrying lethal promise. "That ends now."
The remaining Royal Army soldiers took one look at the golden-haired young man whose mere presence was causing localized reality distortions and made a tactical retreat.
"This isn't over!" their squad leader called as they withdrew. "King Faust knows you're coming! The palace is ready for you!"
Lucy Ashley emerged from an alley where she'd been coordinating the Edolas Fairy Tail's support efforts. "Well, that was subtle," she observed dryly.
"Subtlety was never really an option," Gildarts replied, his crash magic still crackling around his fists. "When you're dealing with power levels like ours, stealth becomes irrelevant."
They regrouped quickly, but the encounter had confirmed their worst fears about the Royal City's preparedness.
"It's a trap," Lucy Heartfilia said flatly. "Everything about this—the way they let me stay free, the patrol patterns, even this fight. They want us to come to them."
"Of course it's a trap," Natsu replied with his usual grin. "But they're the ones who are going to be surprised."
The Palace Gates
By dawn, they had reached the outskirts of the Royal City, and the sight that greeted them was both magnificent and horrifying.
The city sprawled across impossible geography, its towers reaching toward the sky like crystal fingers. But at its heart, visible even from miles away, was the massive Lacrima crystal that housed their friends and guildmates.
"There," Wendy breathed, her Sky Dragon Slayer senses detecting the familiar magical signatures trapped within the crystal structure. "I can sense them. They're alive, but..."
"But weakening," Carla finished grimly. "The extraction process is accelerating. They don't have much time left."
The approach to the city revealed layer after layer of defensive preparations. Magical barriers shimmered in the air, creating a dome of protection around the entire settlement. Patrol units moved in coordinated patterns along walls that seemed to extend infinitely upward.
"The perimeter defenses are designed to detect and repel magical intrusions," the Edolas Lucy observed, consulting intelligence she'd gathered during their journey. "But they're calibrated for this world's magical signatures."
"Meaning our ki-based abilities should pass right through," Gine concluded with satisfaction.
They were proven correct when Kizuna simply walked through the outer barrier as if it didn't exist. His golden energy registered as something completely outside the defensive system's parameters.
"That's... not supposed to be possible," one of the Edolas guild members muttered.
"Welcome to fighting Saiyans," Happy replied cheerfully. "The impossible is pretty much their specialty."
The inner city presented different challenges. The streets were laid out in patterns that seemed designed to confuse and disorient intruders. Buildings shifted and changed configuration as they watched, creating a maze that constantly reconfigured itself.
"Spatial manipulation magic," Uruk identified. "The entire city layout is designed to prevent unauthorized navigation."
"Then we don't navigate," Cumber said simply. "We go straight."
His crash magic began to manifest, but instead of the usual destructive force, it created something new—pathways through space itself that bypassed the city's confusing layout entirely. His hybrid abilities were evolving, combining Saiyan ki manipulation with the reality-altering properties of crash magic.
They moved through his created pathways like they were walking through tunnels in the air, emerging directly in the palace courtyard.
The reception committee was exactly what they'd expected.
Erza Knightwalker stood at the center of a formation of elite guards, her massive spear gleaming in the morning light. Beside her, Sugarboy maintained his unnaturally sweet smile despite the obvious tension in the air.
"Welcome to the Royal City," Knightwalker said formally. "I am Captain Knightwalker of the Royal Army. You are under arrest for crimes against the kingdom of Edolas."
"We're here for our friends," Natsu replied, his flame sword already igniting. "Let them go, and we'll consider leaving peacefully."
Sugarboy's laughter was like silver bells, beautiful and somehow wrong. "Oh, my dear dimensional travelers, I'm afraid that's quite impossible. You see, your friends are now an integral part of our kingdom's infrastructure. Removing them would cause significant disruption to our magical systems."
"Then you'll learn to live without magical systems," Teilanne replied mildly, her crimson aura beginning to expand.
The battle that followed was unlike anything the Royal City had ever witnessed.
Knightwalker was skilled, dangerous, and equipped with weapons that could have challenged their world's Erza Scarlet. But she was fighting opponents who operated on principles she'd never encountered.
When she thrust her spear with speed that should have been impossible to counter, Cumber simply wasn't there anymore. His movement technique combined Saiyan speed with spatial manipulation, allowing him to exist in multiple locations simultaneously.
Her weapon passed through empty air while he materialized behind her, his hand resting gently on her shoulder.
"Captain," he said politely, "you seem to be under the impression that your weapons can hurt us. I'd like to correct that misconception."
His grip tightened just enough to crack her armor, demonstrating strength that made her earlier confidence seem absurd.
Sugarboy attempted to intervene with his signature magic, but found himself facing Gine instead. Her analytical mind had already cataloged his abilities and developed seventeen different countermeasures.
"Interesting technique," she observed as his attacks bent around her like she was made of liquid. "But you're not actually controlling physical matter—you're manipulating magical representations of physical properties. That makes your entire fighting style dependent on magical principles that don't apply to ki-based abilities."
Her blue energy formed geometric patterns around him, each one canceling a different aspect of his magic until he found himself completely unable to affect her.
"This is impossible," he protested, his sweet smile finally cracking. "Nothing can resist magical manipulation at the molecular level!"
"You're not manipulating molecules," she corrected, her attack striking with surgical precision. "You're manipulating the magical field that represents molecules. Without that field as an intermediary, your abilities have no effect."
The demonstration left Sugarboy unconscious and the remaining Royal Guards reconsidering their career choices.
But their victory was short-lived. The massive doors of the palace began to open, revealing a figure that made everyone pause.
Panther Lily emerged in his full Royal Guard regalia, his seven-foot frame imposing in elaborate armor. But it was his eyes that caught their attention—there was something in them that didn't match his official stance.
"Stand down," he commanded the remaining guards. "These are no ordinary intruders."
His gaze swept over the rescue party, lingering on Happy and Carla with particular interest.
"Exceed," he observed. "But not from this world."
"That's right," Happy replied, puffing up with pride. "We're from Earthland! And we're here to save our friends!"
For a moment, something flickered across Panther Lily's expression—something that might have been recognition, or regret, or hope.
"Your friends," he repeated quietly. "The ones trapped in the Lacrima."
"You know where they are?" Wendy asked urgently.
Lily's internal struggle was visible on his face. Duty warred with something deeper, something that looked suspiciously like conscience.
"I am Captain Panther Lily of the Royal Guard," he said formally. "My duty is to protect the kingdom and serve His Majesty."
"But?" Carla prompted, sensing the conflict in his words.
"But," Lily continued, his voice dropping to barely above a whisper, "I remember what it was like before the Anima. Before we became dependent on stolen magical energy. Before we started draining the life force of innocent people to power our civilization."
The admission hung in the air like a confession.
"You'll help us?" Lucy asked hopefully.
"I can't," Lily replied, but his tone suggested he wanted to. "My oath, my position, my people—"
"Your people," Kizuna interrupted, his golden ki pulsing with emotional intensity, "are powered by the suffering of our family. Is that really worth protecting?"
The question struck Lily like a physical blow. Around them, the unconscious guards and defeated commanders served as evidence of just how outmatched the Royal Army was against these dimensional travelers.
"The Lacrima chamber," he said finally, his voice heavy with decision. "Throne room level, eastern wing. But the extraction process—if it's interrupted incorrectly, the magical feedback could kill everyone trapped inside."
"Then we'll do it correctly," Uruk said with quiet confidence. "What do we need to know?"
Lily looked around one more time, then seemed to come to a final decision.
"Follow me," he said, removing his royal insignia and dropping them on the ground. "And pray we're not too late."
The alliance between the Royal Guard captain and the dimensional rescuers was formed in that moment, bound together by the recognition that some things were more important than duty or kingdom or even survival.
They had entered the palace. Now they faced the final challenge—reaching their friends before the extraction process claimed their lives forever.
The Celestial Spirit Disruption
As they moved through the palace corridors under Panther Lily's guidance, Lucy Heartfilia suddenly stopped, her hand pressed against her chest with a look of confusion and growing alarm.
"Something's wrong," she said quietly, her voice carrying a tremor of uncertainty. "My connection to the Celestial Spirit World—it's... different here."
"Different how?" Wendy asked, immediately concerned for her teammate.
Lucy concentrated, pulling out one of her golden keys. "I can feel them, but the connection is unstable. It's like trying to tune a radio through static." She held up Leo's key, the familiar weight somehow feeling foreign in this world. "Let me test this."
"Open, Gate of the Lion! Leo!"
The golden light that appeared was wrong from the very beginning. Instead of the confident, orange-haired leader of the Zodiac, the magic circle flickered and wavered before producing a completely different figure.
"Princess!" Virgo emerged in her maid outfit, her head tilted in confusion. "This is strange. I was not the one you called for."
"Virgo?" Lucy stared at her spirit in bewilderment. "But I called for Leo. Why are you—"
"The dimensional barriers interfere with celestial contracts," Panther Lily explained grimly as they continued moving. "Edolas's magical field operates on different principles than Earthland's. Your spirits are responding, but not necessarily the ones you're trying to summon."
Lucy's face paled as the implications sank in. "So I can't rely on getting the right spirit when I need them?"
"That could be a serious tactical disadvantage," Uruk observed analytically. "If you're expecting Leo's combat abilities but get Horologium's defensive capabilities instead..."
"We adapt," Natsu said firmly, his flame sword casting dancing shadows on the corridor walls. "Lucy's strong no matter which spirits answer. Right, Lucy?"
Despite her worry, Lucy managed a determined smile. "Right. Virgo, can you sense the others from here?"
The maid spirit's expression grew troubled. "There are... disturbances in the spiritual realm, Princess. Many voices calling for help, but they are muffled, as if trapped behind barriers."
"The Lacrima," Cumber realized, his golden ki flickering with renewed urgency. "They're probably still trying to summon their spirits even while trapped."
The group pressed forward, but Lucy's connection problems were just the beginning of their complications. As they approached what Panther Lily indicated was the throne room level, the very architecture seemed to shift around them.
"Spatial manipulation again," Gine identified, watching walls reconfigure themselves. "But more sophisticated than the city's defenses."
"The palace adapts to threats," Lily explained. "It's designed to separate intruders and isolate them for capture."
As if responding to his words, the corridor suddenly expanded, creating vast distances between team members who had been walking side by side moments before.
"Everyone stay calm!" Teilanne called out, her voice echoing strangely in the transformed space. "The magic is creating illusions of distance, but we're still together."
Her crimson aura expanded, creating a stabilizing field that seemed to anchor them to reality. The spatial distortions wavered but didn't disappear entirely.
"The extraction chamber is through that door," Lily pointed to an ornate entrance that seemed impossibly far away despite being directly in front of them. "But King Faust will be waiting. He knows we're coming."
"Let him wait," Kizuna said, his golden energy beginning to resonate with the palace's magical field. "We've come too far to stop now."
They approached the massive doors together, each step a fight against the spatial manipulation trying to keep them separated. But as they reached the threshold, Lucy tried one more summoning.
"Open, Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius!"
The magic circle appeared, but instead of the confident centaur, a small figure in a cow-print outfit materialized.
"Mooo!" Taurus bellowed, his axes spinning. "Lucy! Where are we? This place feels strange!"
"Taurus?" Lucy looked between her key and the spirit. "I called for Sagittarius."
"The dimensional interference is getting worse," Carla observed. "Your contracts are being scrambled by whatever magical processes are happening in this palace."
Despite the confusion, Lucy smiled with genuine warmth. "It doesn't matter. Taurus, we need your strength to help save our friends."
"Anything for Lucy!" the bull spirit declared enthusiastically. "Point me toward the enemies!"
"Through those doors," Lucy said, gesturing toward the throne room entrance. "And Taurus? This might be the most important battle we've ever fought."
As they prepared to enter the final chamber, where their friends waited trapped in crystalline prison, the weight of their mission settled over them. The stakes had never been higher, and the obstacles had never been more dangerous.
But it was then that Kizuna's composure finally shattered.
The golden-haired Saiyan had been holding himself together through sheer force of will, channeling his rage into controlled power. But standing before the doors that separated him from Mirajane—his girlfriend, his partner, the woman he loved—the dam finally burst.
"Mirajane," he whispered, her name carrying all the pain and fury he'd been suppressing. "They have Mirajane."
His ki began to shift, the familiar golden glow deepening and taking on an emerald tint that none of them had seen before. The air around him started to vibrate with a different quality of energy—wilder, more primal, touched with something that made even Teilanne take notice.
"Kizuna," Wendy said carefully, recognizing the dangerous shift in his power signature, "we need to stay together. We need to—"
"They trapped her," he continued, his voice growing lower, more guttural. The emerald energy was spreading, crackling around him in patterns that seemed almost alive. "They're draining her life force to power their kingdom. They're killing her slowly, and they're making her suffer while they do it."
"Son," Gildarts stepped forward, his fatherly instincts recognizing the warning signs, "I understand your anger, but—"
"DO YOU?" Kizuna's roar shook the palace walls, his power spiking to levels that made the spatial manipulation magic falter. His hair was now fully green-tinted, standing upright as his ki transformed into something that transcended his usual golden energy. "Do you understand what it's like to know the woman you love is being tortured while you stand here talking?"
Cumber moved to restrain his brother, but Teilanne placed a firm hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
"Let him go," she said quietly, her crimson eyes fixed on her eldest son with a mixture of concern and understanding.
"Mother?" Uruk looked at her with surprise. "The ikari transformation—if he fully manifests it here, the power output could—"
"Could give us the edge we need," Teilanne finished. "Kizuna has been holding back, trying to be controlled, trying to be tactical. But sometimes, the situation calls for raw, overwhelming force."
Kizuna's emerald aura exploded outward with such intensity that it simply dissolved the massive doors blocking their path. The spatial manipulation magic that had been trying to separate them collapsed under the assault of his transformed ki.
"You want to know what happens when you mess with Earthland?" His voice carried harmonics that seemed to echo from multiple dimensions simultaneously. "When you trap our family? When you torture the people we love?"
He stepped through the ruined doorway, his power continuing to climb beyond any previous measurement. The ikari form was unlike his usual controlled strength—this was wrath given physical form, fury that transcended normal limitations.
"I'm going to make sure your bones remember this lesson," he declared, emerald lightning crackling around his form as he entered the throne room.
Behind him, the rest of the rescue party followed, watching in awe and terror as the gentle, scholarly young man they knew transformed into something that belonged in legends of divine retribution.
The final battle was about to begin, and this time, there would be no mercy for those who had dared to harm their family.
The Throne Room Revelation
What they found beyond the ruined doors was both magnificent and horrifying.
The throne room was a vast crystalline chamber that stretched impossibly high, its walls lined with magical conduits that pulsed with stolen energy. But dominating the entire space was the massive Lacrima crystal they'd glimpsed from outside the city—now revealed to be even larger and more complex than they'd imagined.
Within its translucent depths, they could see dozens of figures suspended in crystalline prison. Their friends, their guildmates, their family—all trapped in magical stasis while their life force was slowly drained away.
"Magnolia," Wendy breathed, her Sky Dragon Slayer senses detecting familiar magical signatures. "They took the entire town."
But it was Kizuna who reacted most violently to the sight. His emerald aura flared as he spotted a familiar figure near the crystal's center—long white hair flowing in the magical currents, peaceful face showing no sign of the torment she was enduring.
"MIRAJANE!" His roar shook the entire palace as his ikari-enhanced power spiked beyond all previous levels.
"Welcome, dimensional travelers," a voice echoed through the chamber with regal authority.
King Faust emerged from behind the massive crystal, his ornate robes seeming to absorb the magical energy radiating from the Lacrima. In his hands, he carried an elaborate staff topped with a fragment of the same crystal material.
"I must thank you for making this so convenient," he continued with cold satisfaction. "Gathering in one place, bringing such impressive power levels directly to my collection chamber. It will make the absorption process much more efficient."
The king raised his staff and struck the crystal with its tip. A small chunk broke away, dissolving into pure magical energy that was immediately absorbed into the palace's systems.
"Ten years of magical power," Faust declared with obvious pride. "That's what your precious Magnolia has provided us. But you—" His gaze swept over the rescue party with predatory interest. "You will provide so much more."
Natsu stepped forward, his flame sword igniting with fury. "Let them go! NOW!"
"Or what?" Faust asked with amusement. "You'll destroy my palace? Attack my kingdom? You're outnumbered, outmaneuvered, and completely at my mercy."
He gestured to the shadows around the chamber, and figures began to emerge. The Royal Army's elite commanders, each one radiating magical power that would have challenged the strongest mages in any normal situation.
But these weren't normal opponents they were facing.
"You want to see what happens when you threaten our family?" Kizuna's voice carried harmonics that seemed to echo from other dimensions. His emerald ki was now so intense it was causing reality distortions around him. "Let me show you."
He moved faster than anyone in the chamber could track, appearing directly in front of Faust before the king could even react. His hand closed around the royal staff, and for a moment, the king's confident expression faltered.
"This ends now," Kizuna declared, his grip tightening on the magical artifact. The staff began to crack under the pressure of his transformed strength.
But before he could complete the destruction, a new voice cut through the chamber.
"Stop! If you damage the extraction matrix incorrectly, the feedback will kill everyone in the crystal!"
Panther Lily emerged from the shadows, his expression grim but determined. "The magical resonance is too complex. One wrong move and the Lacrima will shatter from the inside out."
The revelation stopped Kizuna in his tracks, his emerald aura flickering with frustrated rage. "Then how do we free them?"
"Carefully," Lily replied. "Very carefully. And with help from someone who understands the system."
King Faust recovered his composure quickly, stepping back from the transformed Saiyan with calculated caution. "Ah, Captain Lily. I see you've chosen your side in this conflict. How... disappointing."
"I've chosen the side of conscience," Lily replied firmly. "Something you abandoned long ago."
The standoff hung in the air like a blade about to fall. Around them, the massive Lacrima continued to pulse with stolen life energy, each beat a reminder of how little time their friends had left.
"The extraction process is accelerating," Carla observed, her analytical mind reading the energy patterns flowing through the crystal. "They're not just maintaining the drain—they're increasing it."
"The Grand Magic Games begin tomorrow," Faust explained with cold satisfaction. "I intend to provide my subjects with the most spectacular display of power they've ever witnessed. Your friends' final moments will fuel a celebration that will be remembered for generations."
The cruelty of the plan—turning their friends' deaths into public entertainment—pushed even Wendy past her usual compassion.
"You monster," she whispered, her Sky Dragon magic beginning to swirl around her in patterns of barely controlled fury. "How can you be so heartless?"
"Heartless?" Faust laughed, the sound echoing off the crystalline walls. "I'm a visionary! I've solved the fundamental problem that has plagued Edolas for centuries—magical scarcity. I've created abundance from nothing, prosperity from sacrifice. History will remember me as the king who saved his people."
"History will remember you as a butcher," Taurus declared, his axes spinning as he prepared for battle. "And I'll make sure they remember accurately!"
The confrontation was reaching its breaking point. Kizuna's ikari transformation continued to fluctuate between control and complete unleashing, while around them, the trapped members of Fairy Tail waited in crystalline prison, their lives hanging by threads that grew thinner with each passing moment.
The Saiyan Ultimatum
What happened next would be seared into King Faust's memory for whatever remained of his life.
The Royal Army's elite commanders moved to surround the rescue party, their magical weapons crackling with energy designed to subdue even the most powerful opponents. But as they closed in, Teilanne stepped forward.
The Saiyan matriarch didn't raise her voice. She didn't threaten or posture or make grand declarations. She simply looked at King Faust with the cold, calculating expression of someone evaluating how long it would take to dismantle everything he'd built.
"Retreat," she said quietly to her family and allies. "Now."
"But the Lacrima—" Wendy protested.
"Will be intact when we return," Teilanne replied, her crimson aura beginning to expand in patterns that made the very air feel dangerous. "Won't it, Your Majesty?"
The question was directed at Faust, but it wasn't really a question at all. It was a statement of fact wrapped in the illusion of choice.
For the first time since the confrontation began, genuine uncertainty flickered across the king's face. He'd been expecting anger, desperation, perhaps some dramatic last stand. What he was seeing instead was something far more terrifying—the quiet confidence of apex predators who had just finished cataloging every weakness in his defenses.
"You think you can simply leave?" he asked, though his voice lacked its earlier arrogance.
Teilanne's smile was polite, pleasant, and absolutely terrifying. "Your Majesty, I've destroyed entire star systems. I've fought beings that could crack planets with their thoughts. I've seen the deaths of civilizations and the birth of new worlds."
She took a single step forward, and several of the elite commanders involuntarily stepped back.
"You have something that belongs to my family," she continued conversationally. "You're causing them pain for your own benefit. And you seem to think that the vast gulf in our respective power levels somehow works in your favor."
Kizuna's emerald aura was still fluctuating wildly, but now it was being contained within a field of his mother's crimson energy—not suppressed, but focused, refined, turned into something even more dangerous than raw fury.
"Let me explain something that most of this galaxy learned long ago," Teilanne said, her voice carrying across dimensions with absolute clarity. "You never make Saiyans angry. Not unless you're prepared to face the consequences of awakening something that was designed to conquer the universe."
The temperature in the throne room began to rise as her power manifested more fully. The magical conduits lining the walls started to crack under the pressure of energy that operated on principles far beyond this world's understanding.
"We're leaving now," she announced. "We're going to plan. We're going to prepare. And then we're going to return and take back what belongs to us."
Her gaze swept over the Royal Army commanders, cataloging each one with the precision of a military strategist planning a campaign.
"When we do return, anyone who stands between us and our family will learn why the Saiyan race was once feared across multiple galaxies. The choice of whether you want to be among those people is entirely yours."
Uruk and Gine moved to flank their mother, their own power levels climbing in perfect synchronization. The scholarly precision of their combined abilities created overlapping fields of force that made approach impossible.
Cumber's crash magic began to manifest around the edges of the chamber, not attacking anything, but creating pathways through space that would allow their retreat. His usual control was enhanced by his brother's ikari transformation—the raw power providing energy while tactical intelligence guided its application.
"The Lacrima—" one of the commanders began.
"Will remain intact," Teilanne finished. "For now. We have no intention of harming our friends through reckless action. But understand this—every moment they remain in your custody, every second their life force is drained to power your kingdom, adds to the debt you're accumulating."
She turned to face Faust directly, and for a moment, the king saw himself reflected in her eyes—not as a powerful ruler, but as an obstacle to be removed.
"And Saiyans always collect their debts. With interest."
The withdrawal was as coordinated as it was inevitable. Lucy recalled Taurus with quiet efficiency, while Natsu extinguished his flame sword but kept his fire magic ready for defensive use. Wendy's Sky Dragon magic created air currents that would mask their movements, while Happy and Carla prepared for rapid aerial reconnaissance once they cleared the palace.
"You can't simply walk away!" Faust called after them, desperation creeping into his voice. "My kingdom's defenses—"
"Are designed to handle magical threats from this world," Gildarts interrupted, his crash magic beginning to disintegrate the floor beneath his feet. "We're not from this world."
As they moved toward Cumber's spatial pathways, Panther Lily made his choice. The Royal Guard captain removed his insignia completely and followed them, his loyalty finally shifting from kingdom to conscience.
"Captain Lily!" one of the commanders called out.
"Former captain," Lily corrected without looking back. "My oath was to protect this kingdom's people. Not to enable their king's atrocities."
Within moments, the rescue party had vanished through dimensional rifts that sealed themselves behind them, leaving the Royal Army standing in a throne room filled with cracks, scorch marks, and the lingering sense that they had just witnessed something that would fundamentally change their world.
King Faust stood before his massive Lacrima, watching the trapped figures of Fairy Tail, and for the first time in years, he felt something he'd almost forgotten.
Fear.
The Promise of Return
Miles away from the Royal City, in a secluded valley where dimensional barriers ran thin, the rescue party regrouped. But this wasn't a retreat—it was a strategic withdrawal designed to maximize their advantages when they returned.
"The Lacrima's extraction matrix," Panther Lily explained, drawing diagrams in the dirt with his spear point, "operates on a feedback loop. The magical energy is drawn from the subjects, processed through conversion chambers, then distributed to the kingdom's systems."
"Weak points?" Gine asked, her analytical mind already working through the technical specifications.
"Several," Lily confirmed. "But the most critical is the primary resonance chamber. If that's destabilized correctly, the entire system will reverse—instead of draining energy from the subjects, it will return what's been taken."
"And incorrectly?" Uruk inquired.
"The magical feedback will kill everyone trapped inside," Lily admitted grimly.
Kizuna's emerald aura flickered as his ikari transformation began to stabilize. The controlled fury was still there, but now it was being channeled into tactical planning rather than raw destruction.
"How long do we have?" he asked quietly.
"The Grand Magic Games begin tomorrow," Lily replied. "Faust intends to accelerate the extraction process during the opening ceremonies. If we're going to save them, it has to be before then."
Teilanne nodded, her crimson energy settling into patterns that suggested deep contemplation rather than immediate violence.
"Then we plan," she said simply. "We prepare. And we make sure that when we return, King Faust learns what happens when you threaten a Saiyan's family."
The rescue mission was far from over. It was just beginning.
The Truth of Extalia
While the Clive family regrouped in the valley, planning their return assault on the Royal City, Happy and Carla found themselves in circumstances far different from what they'd expected.
The pink bed they lay upon was luxurious beyond anything they'd experienced, but the comfort felt wrong somehow—like a cage decorated to hide its true nature. When the door opened, revealing two Exceed they'd never seen before, both cats tensed instinctively.
"Are you the ones from Earthland who have completed their mission?" asked the larger Exceed, whose face had an unusual, almost unsettling shape that seemed vaguely familiar yet completely foreign.
The black Exceed beside him waved continuously with mechanical precision, his movements suggesting either nervous habit or programmed behavior. "Nichiya's right to be curious," he said, his voice carrying formal authority. "I'm Nadi. This is your first time in Edolas, isn't it? You've probably never seen other Exceeds before."
Carla's analytical mind immediately began cataloging inconsistencies. The formal tone, the assumption about their "mission," the way they spoke about Earthland like it was a distant assignment rather than home.
"You did a good job completing your duty," Nadi continued, and something in his tone made Carla's stomach clench with growing dread.
"What duty?" she asked quietly, though part of her was beginning to understand the horrible implications.
"The Queen is waiting for you," Nichiya announced, ignoring her question. "You should follow us."
As they were led outside, Happy's amazement at seeing other cat-like beings gradually shifted to bewilderment and then growing unease. The town sprawling before them was indeed populated entirely by Exceeds, but their behavior was unlike anything he'd experienced in Fairy Tail.
"We're not cats," Nadi corrected when Happy expressed wonder at the feline population. "We're Exceeds. We stand over the humans and guide them. This is our kingdom—Extalia."
The casual superiority in his voice made Carla's fur bristle. This wasn't the camaraderie she'd expected from meeting others of their kind. This felt like indoctrination.
As they walked through the palace corridors, Nadi continued his exposition with the mechanical precision of someone repeating well-rehearsed propaganda.
"Humans are such foolish and inferior creatures," he explained matter-of-factly. "That's why we have to watch over them, including the ones on Earthland. The Queen can decide who lives and who dies in order to rectify the magic in Edolas."
Carla stopped walking. The words hit her like physical blows, each one more horrifying than the last.
"What is my duty?" she demanded, her voice tight with growing panic. "Ever since I was born, there's been this... knowledge. This compulsion to protect Wendy, but also something else. Something darker."
The memories came flooding back—fragments of programming she'd suppressed, instincts she'd fought against, the constant underlying tension between her love for the Dragon Slayers and something that wanted them...
"No," Happy breathed, his own realization dawning with sick clarity. "My mission... was it to kill Natsu?"
Nadi nodded with casual indifference. "Originally, yes. But circumstances changed."
"We didn't accomplish any mission!" Carla declared desperately. "We never had any intention of harming our friends! So why do you think our mission is complete?"
"Allow me to explain," Nadi replied, settling into what was clearly a prepared briefing. "Six years ago, a hundred Exceed eggs from Extalia were sent to Earthland by the Queen's human control project. Each Exceed was programmed with specific information—once hatched, they would use that programming to hunt Dragon Slayers and eliminate them."
The world seemed to tilt around Happy and Carla. Everything they thought they knew about themselves, their origins, their purpose—all of it was crumbling.
"The situation changed when the humans developed the Anima," Nadi continued clinical precision. "Instead of killing the Dragon Slayers, we realized their magical power could be harvested. Among all the magic we could steal, the Dragon Slayers' would be exceptionally valuable. So your duty was modified by emergency order—instead of eliminating them, you were to bring them here."
Carla felt her legs give out. She sank to the floor as the full horror of their situation became clear. "We... we led them into a trap. Everything—coming to Edolas, finding the guild, all of it—we did exactly what they wanted."
"But we didn't know!" Happy protested, tears streaming down his face. "We thought we were helping! We thought we were saving our friends!"
"Knowledge isn't required for programming to function," Nichiya observed with cold satisfaction. "You performed exactly as designed."
Meanwhile in the Royal City
The Grand Magic Games had begun with pageantry and celebration, but beneath the festive atmosphere, other forces were moving.
In the crowd surrounding the massive Lacrima containing Magnolia and Fairy Tail, two figures worked with practiced coordination. The Edo-Gajeel moved through the celebration with casual confidence, his hands weaving small magical constructs that burst into brilliant fireworks.
But these weren't random displays. The magical fire formed letters across the sky—clear, unmistakable: "NORTH."
"I'll leave the rest to you," he muttered, knowing his counterpart would understand the signal.
From across the plaza, the real Gajeel saw the message and immediately began his own performance. "Hey!" he shouted, pointing toward the northern section of the crowd. "There's something written in the sky! Someone's after the Lacrima!"
The reaction was immediate. Royal Army guards began pushing through the crowd, their attention diverted exactly as planned. People scattered, clearing pathways, and in the confusion, Gajeel threw off his concealing cloak.
His iron magic manifested with devastating precision. Two powerful strikes against the Lacrima's base, each one calculated to disrupt the extraction process without damaging the crystal's internal structure.
The effect was immediate and alarming. The massive crystal began to glow with unstable energy, its magical resonance fluctuating wildly.
"What the hell?" Gajeel stared at the glowing Lacrima, surprised by the intensity of the reaction. He'd expected some disruption, but this looked like the entire system was on the verge of catastrophic failure.
Back in Extalia
The revelation about their true nature had left both Exceeds reeling, but it was Happy who found his voice first.
"You're wrong," he said quietly, stepping in front of Carla as she struggled to process the horror of their situation.
Nichiya and Nadi looked genuinely surprised by the interruption.
"We're not puppets," Happy continued, his voice growing stronger. "We're not weapons or tools or programming. We're Fairy Tail mages."
He thought about Natsu—impulsive, loyal, brave Natsu who had never once treated him like anything less than an equal and friend. He remembered Lucy's kindness, Erza's protection, Gray's grudging affection disguised as annoyance.
"I don't care what you programmed into us," Happy declared, his small form radiating defiance that seemed to fill the entire corridor. "I don't care about your missions or your control projects or your superior attitude toward humans. I know who I am, and I know who my family is."
Carla looked up at him through her tears, seeing her own resolve reflected in his determination.
"We're Fairy Tail," she added, struggling to her feet. "And Fairy Tail protects its own. Whatever programming you think you gave us, it didn't work. Because love is stronger than manipulation. Family is stronger than duty. And we're going to save our friends, no matter what you intended us to do."
The two Extalia Exceeds stared at them with expressions ranging from confusion to outrage.
"Impossible," Nadi protested. "The programming is absolute. You can't override your fundamental nature."
"Our fundamental nature," Happy replied with a smile that carried all the warmth and determination that made him truly part of Fairy Tail, "is to love and protect our family. Everything else is just noise."
The confrontation with their supposed origins was far from over, but Happy and Carla had made their choice. Whatever they'd been designed to be, they knew what they actually were.
And they were going home.
The Flight to Freedom
"They've been poisoned by the filth of Earthland!" Nichiya's voice echoed through the palace corridors as Happy grabbed Carla's paw and pulled her into a desperate run. "They've become Fallen! All guards, pursue the traitors!"
The sound of armored paws clattering against marble filled the air behind them as the Exceed Royal Guards gave chase. Happy's heart pounded—not just from the running, but from the crushing weight of everything they'd learned. Their entire existence had been a lie, their love for their friends supposedly nothing more than programming gone wrong.
"This way!" he called to Carla, spotting a loading cart near the palace's service entrance. They dove inside just as the cart began moving, pulled by some unseen force toward what they hoped was freedom.
The relief was short-lived. The cart careened over the edge of Extalia's floating island, plummeting toward the world below in a terrifying freefall that left both Exceeds battered and shaken when they finally crashed among some farm fields.
"Get off my land!" a gruff voice shouted at them as they struggled to their feet. A white-furred Exceed wielding a farming hoe approached with obvious irritation. "And get inside before someone sees you!"
Before they could protest, a gentler blue-furred female Exceed appeared, carrying a basket of vegetables. "Now Lucky, don't scare them," she chided her husband before turning to the refugees with kindness. "I'm Marl. What are your names?"
After introductions and explanations—carefully edited to avoid mentioning the full scope of what they'd learned—the elderly couple took them in. Lucky, despite his gruff exterior, set Happy to work in the fields while Marl had Carla help prepare refreshments.
As Happy toiled under the hot sun, his mind wandered to memories of Earthland, of Fairy Tail, of the family he'd thought he was betraying but had actually been trying to save all along. The physical labor was exhausting, but it gave him time to think.
It was then that a specific memory surfaced—something Teilanne had told him months ago, back when the Clive family had first joined Fairy Tail. He'd been struggling with self-doubt then too, wondering if he was really strong enough to be useful to Natsu and their friends.
The Saiyan matriarch had found him sitting alone outside the guild hall, his usual cheer dampened by uncertainty. She'd settled beside him with the patient grace that made her such a natural mother figure.
"Happy," she'd said in her calm, measured voice, "do you know what the most dangerous lie in the universe is?"
He'd shaken his head, not understanding.
"It's the lie that tells you your worth is determined by what others intended you to be, rather than what you choose to become."
At the time, he hadn't fully grasped her meaning. But now, with the revelation of his true origins weighing on his mind, her words took on profound significance.
"I've seen entire civilizations destroyed," she'd continued, "not by external enemies, but by the belief that their nature was fixed, that their purpose was predetermined. The strongest people I've ever met—including my own family—became strong precisely because they refused to be limited by what others expected them to be."
She'd looked directly at him then, her crimson eyes gentle but intense. "Your value isn't in your origin, Happy. It's in your choices. It's in the love you give freely, the loyalty you show without being asked, the courage you display when everything seems hopeless. Those things can't be programmed or predetermined. They come from who you choose to be."
Now, as he worked the fields under Lucky's watchful eye, Happy felt those words resonating in his chest like a warm flame.
When Marl appeared to praise their work, Happy found himself opening up. "Our friends were captured by the kingdom. We have to go save them."
"Friendship doesn't have anything to do with being human or Exceed," Marl replied with gentle wisdom. "Even if we all look different, our hearts are all the same."
She paused, pain flickering across her features. "The Queen took our child for the Dragon Slayer Extermination Project years ago. We were exiled because we opposed it. But Lucky was too scared to act, and I..." Her voice trailed off with old regret.
"If you're going to stay scared," Lucky said gruffly, "you won't be able to do anything that matters."
The words hit Happy like lightning. Teilanne's advice, Marl's wisdom, Lucky's hard-earned understanding—they all pointed to the same truth. Fear and doubt were chains that could only hold him if he let them.
"Carla," he said, standing and brushing dirt from his fur, "we need to go. Now."
She looked at him, seeing something new in his expression—a resolve that hadn't been there before.
"Thank you," Happy told the elderly couple with deep sincerity. "For everything. But our family needs us."
They ran to the cliff overlooking the Royal City far below. At the edge, Happy felt the familiar doubt creeping back in. They'd lost their Aera magic when they arrived in Edolas. How could they possibly—
"We have to move forward and fly," he declared, pushing aside the fear. "We're Exceeds—the only beings in Edolas with magic. The reason we couldn't use it before was because of the unease in our hearts."
Carla nodded, understanding flooding her features. "Our doubt, our confusion about our purpose—it was blocking our natural abilities."
Together, they leaped from the cliff. For a terrifying moment, they plummeted toward the ground far below. But then—wings. Beautiful, translucent wings erupted from their backs as their magic responded not to programming or duty, but to the pure determination to save their chosen family.
As they soared toward the Royal City, Happy carried Teilanne's words with him like a talisman. He wasn't flying because ancient Exceed programming compelled him. He was flying because he chose to. He chose his family. He chose love over fear, hope over despair, action over doubt.
Behind them, Lucky and Marl watched their departure with tears streaming down their faces.
"It seems they can fly after all," Lucky murmured, his gruff voice thick with emotion.
"Our son," Marl whispered, reaching toward Happy's distant form. "He grew up to be such a kind child, with such concern for others."
But Happy and Carla didn't hear the revelation about his parentage. They were focused entirely forward, toward the city where their friends waited, toward the family they had chosen and who had chosen them in return.
Programming didn't matter. They were going to save everyone, not because they were designed to, but because they decided to.
To be continued in Chapter 24: The Convergence of Fury