Chapter 239: Let Me Send You Off
"As expected of you, Master! That speech just now almost brought tears to my eyes!"
CLANG!
Erza pulled Makarov into a hug, but she was still wearing her Adamantine Armor. Makarov's head slammed hard into the metal breastplate, and he was the one with tears in his eyes.
"The old man's awesome!" Natsu laughed, patting Makarov on the head.
"If you really think so, then stop patting my head," Makarov grumbled.
"Well, that's over with," Gray said with a sigh of relief.
"My, my, aren't you just an adorable one, too♡," Master Bob cooed, having come over to look at Kageyama. Kageyama, seeing Bob's... unique... appearance, looked a little green.
Noah, who had also come over, ignored the chatter and focused on the Lullaby flute on the ground. A small smile touched his lips. His fingers twitched, sending out invisible waves of magic as his eyes glowed with analytic magic circles.
Makarov glanced at him, confused. 'Why is he using magic now?'
Suddenly, a cold, dark voice emanated from the flute.
"Heh heh heh... what a bunch of useless trash! I can't watch this anymore. I'll have to do it myself. I will... devour your souls!"
A thick, purple-black smoke began to pour from the flute, growing rapidly.
"The flute is talking!" Lucy shrieked.
"That smoke... it's taking shape!" Happy yelled.
The smoke coalesced, rising into a monstrous, grotesque creature tens of meters tall. It landed with a crash that shook the ground.
"What?!"
"It's a monster!"
"It's huge!" Lucy screamed.
"Is that really the most important thing right now?" Happy deadpanned.
"W-What is this... I didn't know this was inside the flute!" Kageyama stammered, staring in horror.
"Oh my, this is not good at all," Bob said, covering his mouth.
"That's a Demon from the Book of Zeref!" Goldmine added gravely.
At the sound of the commotion, the other guild masters, who had been in the meeting hall, all rushed out.
"This is bad!"
"Should we help?"
"My back is acting up... I'll pass!"
Most of the masters began to back away, but one person was walking toward the monster: Mirajane.
"Mira?" Erza called out, surprised.
"I was wondering where the Master had run off to," Mira said, walking up and giving Noah a sweet smile before turning to Erza. "What are you all doing here?"
"We were dealing with Eisenwald and followed them here. But Noah... what's going on with this monster?" Erza asked, since he had been the one to "seal" the flute.
Noah, who had been rapidly analyzing the creature with his Archive magic, finally looked up. "It wanted to come out, so I let it. A dangerous thing like this is better off being destroyed completely. It's not a problem. It's not that strong. We'll just take it down. See? I've already put up a barrier. You all can go wild."
He gestured, and a massive barrier flickered into view, enclosing himself, Erza, Mira, Natsu, and Gray with the monster. Makarov, Lucy, Happy, and the other guild masters were all safely on the outside. (Lucy wasn't ready for this level of fight, so he'd left her out.)
Erza and the others immediately calmed down. With a barrier up, they didn't have to worry about collateral damage.
"He put up a barrier that big... in an instant?!" the other guild masters whispered, stunned.
"So hungry... I will eat your souls!" the monster roared.
"What?! You can eat souls?" Natsu looked shocked. "Do they taste good?" he asked Gray.
"How should I know?! Why are you asking me?!" Gray yelled back.
"W-What's happening?" Lucy asked, still panicking.
"That monster is Lullaby," Goldmine explained. "It's a 'Living Magic.' That is the nature of Zeref's magic."
"Living Magic..." Erza looked at Noah. He knew what she was asking and shook his head. "This magic involves forbidden concepts. I can't replicate it."
"Zeref?!" Gray shouted. "But isn't he from, like, hundreds of years ago?!"
"The Black Wizard Zeref," Bob said, his voice uncharacteristically serious. "The most evil wizard in history... To think his dark legacy would reappear now..."
"Now... who to eat first...?" the Lullaby monster mused. "Ah, I'll just eat you all at once!"
It opened its mouth, and a giant magic circle appeared above its head.
"It's going to use the Cursed Song!"
"It's going to steal our souls!" the guild masters panicked.
Lucy was terrified, but Happy just said, "With Noah here, it won't work. The barrier will block it. Besides, I doubt it can even use its magic at this point."
"Let's go!" Erza took the lead, instantly requipping into her Heaven's Wheel Armor. She dashed in and slashed the monster's ankle.
"GRAAAH!" it roared in pain as the attack left a deep wound.
"My turn to stretch," Mira said, instantly transforming into her Satan Soul. She hurled a ball of darkness that exploded against the monster's chest, blowing a chunk out of it and sending it stumbling back.
"Ice-Make: Lancer!" Gray unleashed dozens of ice lances, riddling the monster's body.
"Fire Dragon's Talon!" Natsu, having used the chaos to climb up the monster's body, leaped from its shoulder and kicked it square in the face. The monster's head snapped to the side, and it staggered.
"WHOA!"
"He kicked it, and it actually moved!"
"Is that guy really a wizard?!" the guild masters shouted, shocked.
"Insolent pest!" the monster roared, spitting a volley of magic energy bullets at Natsu. Natsu just kicked off the monster's head, dodging them. The blasts flew toward Noah and Gray.
"Ice-Make: Shield!" Gray created a massive wall of ice, which easily blocked the attack.
"So fast!"
"To create such a powerful barrier in an instant..." the masters murmured.
"That's 'Maker Magic'," Happy proudly explained to Lucy. "He gives his magic a 'form'. Gray's is Ice-Make."
"Aaaargh!" The monster tilted its head back, and the magic circle above it shrank, flowing into its open mouth.
"This is bad!" Lucy yelled.
"It's going to use the Cursed Song!" Happy said.
Around the monster, inside the barrier, the trees and grass began to wither and die, their life force being visibly sucked away.
"The trees are dying!" Lucy pointed, horrified.
"Its magic is absorbing all the life," Happy said. "But look, Lucy. We're fine."
Lucy looked and saw that the barrier was like a dividing line. Inside, everything was dying. Outside, where she stood, the grass was still green.
"Noah's the best, see?" Happy said proudly.
Inside the barrier, a faint light now coated Erza and the others—a shield Noah had applied to protect them from the life-draining curse.
"I WILL EAT YOUR SOULS!" the monster bellowed, an ear-splitting sound. It readied itself to play the melody of death.
But all that came out was a pathetic, muffled... pffft.
"...What was that?"
"A... a wet fart?" Lucy and Happy asked.
The monster looked at its own body in panic. "What... what happened to my voice?! My beautiful, proud melody! Where did it go?!"
"Oh, of course," Kageyama muttered.
"All the holes!" Lucy realized. "They... they punched and cut so many holes in its body, it can't play anymore!"
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" the monster shrieked, enraged. It swung a massive fist at Erza's team, who easily dodged.
At that moment, Noah closed his Archive, his analysis complete. "I'm done. You can finish it now."
Hearing that, Erza and the others looked at each other and smiled. They had been holding back, letting Noah gather his data. Now, it was time to get serious.
"They're getting serious now," Happy said.
"Wait, they weren't serious before?!" Lucy squeaked.
"Of course not," Happy said. "They were just playing around for Noah. Now they'll fight."
"Ice-Make: Lancer!" Gray attacked first, this time unleashing ice spears that were twice as large, punching clean through the monster's body.
"Requip: Flight Armor!" Erza vanished in a blur of speed and reappeared behind the monster. A second later, the monster's arm fell to the ground.
"So... so fast! I didn't even see her move!" one of the guild masters stammered.
"My turn," Mira said, forming a ball of darkness several times larger than her last one. She threw it, and the resulting explosion blasted the monster off its feet, its body already disintegrating.
"Fire Dragon's... BRILLIANT FLAME!" Natsu leaped into the air, combining the fire from both hands into one massive fireball, and hurled it at the falling monster. The explosion engulfed it, blowing it to pieces.
"!!!"
Suddenly, Erza and the others felt a familiar, overwhelming magic power surge behind them. They immediately retreated.
Noah stood with his hands clasped, his magic power pouring out. Lucy was thrown back several steps by the sheer pressure. "N-Noah... is this... strong?" she stammered.
"This is Noah at his strongest!" Happy beamed.
The guild masters were speechless.
"Is... is this magic power for real?!"
"That kid... is that strong?!"
"Oh my, Noah-chan has gotten even stronger! ♡"
"Makarov, you lucky old fool..." Bob and Goldmine said in awe.
Makarov just grinned, his chest swelling with pride.
"To make sure you're gone for good," Noah said, looking at the monster's crumbling remains, "let me send you off."
He raised his hands. A colossal golden magic circle, emblazoned with the Fairy Tail emblem, appeared in the sky, covering the entire barrier.
"O Light, gather and be guided by the fairies! Shine down and smite the fangs of evil! Fairy Glitter!"
A pillar of absolute, celestial light descended, filling the barrier and obliterating the last traces of Lullaby. The light was so bright it turned the night into day.
When the light faded, all that remained was a massive, smoking crater, as wide as the barrier had been, and too deep to see the bottom.
Everyone stared, completely silent, stunned by the overwhelming display of power.
~~~
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