Chapter 480: Unfortunately for You, You're About to Lose
Seeing that Fairy Tail was dominating the battlefield, Erza also walked over to Meredy, placing a comforting hand on the young girl's shoulder.
Noticing that Meredy was surrounded by people who cared about her, Noah's Thought Projection quietly stepped away, returning to his post to monitor the ongoing battles.
Cana flicked a Magic Card. A massive, solid pillar of ice materialized in front of her and hurtled straight toward Rustyrose like a battering ram.
"Thunderclap Belcusas!"
Rustyrose shouted, and the colossal, heavily armored humanoid monster instantly materialized in front of him, raising its massive arms to block the incoming ice pillar.
It didn't even last a second. The sheer kinetic force of the ice pillar completely shattered the monster's defense, launching it backward. However, the momentary delay gave Rustyrose enough time to leap safely out of the way.
"Gale-Force Belfast!"
Rustyrose immediately summoned a new beast—a massive, metallic, dragon-like creature. The moment it materialized, it charged at Cana with terrifying speed.
Cana swiftly swapped her cards. Flicking a new one forward, a colossal fireball erupted from the card, rocketing toward the metallic dragon.
BOOM!
The two collided in a massive explosion. The metallic dragon was blown violently backward, crashing heavily into the dirt far behind Rustyrose.
Cana swapped cards again. A thick, high-pressure jet of water materialized in front of her, shooting straight at Rustyrose.
"Wings of Pegasus!"
White wings sprouted from Rustyrose's boots. He kicked off the ground, easily bounding high into the air to dodge the water jet.
"Gotcha."
Cana already had her next card ready. With a sharp flick of her wrist, a thick, blinding bolt of lightning tore through the sky.
Rustyrose was still mid-air. Seeing the lightning bolt arcing directly toward him, he desperately tried to maneuver, but it was far too fast.
ZAAAP! BOOM!
The lightning struck him dead center, launching him backward. He crashed into the ground, tumbling end-over-end several times before finally coming to a halt.
"Cough... cough... Dammit!"
Rustyrose scrambled to his feet, covered head-to-toe in dirt and soot. He glared at Cana, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.
Ever since his fight with Cana began, he had been entirely on the defensive. He was being thoroughly suppressed, a reality he found utterly incomprehensible.
"Impossible! My magic is supposed to be absolutely invincible!" Rustyrose roared, his pristine composure completely shattered.
"Oh? And what exactly is this 'invincible' magic you're so confident in?" Cana asked curiously. She glanced over her shoulder, noting that Noah's Thought Projection was still furiously typing away on his Archive screens, clearly gathering combat data. Figuring it would help Noah's research, she decided to humor the dark mage.
"My magic is the Magic of Imagination! The Arc of Embodiment! Everything I envision in my mind can be materialized into reality!" Rustyrose declared proudly, regaining a shred of his former arrogance.
"What a ridiculous magic..." Cana muttered, genuinely surprised.
A magic like that sounded absurdly overpowered. If used creatively, the possibilities were literally endless.
"To materialize one's thoughts is to connect directly with the primordial root of all magic! Naturally, there are certain limits and restrictions, but until today, I have never lost a single battle!" Rustyrose boasted enthusiastically.
"Unfortunately for you, you're about to lose right now," Cana deadpanned, utterly unimpressed.
"YOU BASTARD!"
Cana's blunt dismissal felt like a bucket of ice water dumped over his head, instantly snuffing out his pride and replacing it with burning, unadulterated fury.
"Your magic might be impressive, but the person using it is trash," Cana shook her head and began walking purposefully toward him.
Seeing her approach, Rustyrose subconsciously took two steps backward.
Fear...? Am I... actually feeling fear...?
Rustyrose snapped out of his daze, realizing what he had just done. To his absolute horror, he found that deep down, he was genuinely terrified of the woman walking toward him.
"However... this isn't bad."
Rustyrose planted his feet firmly. He raised both hands to his forehead and began laughing maniacally, staring at Cana through his fingers.
Seeing his sudden shift in demeanor, Cana heightened her guard.
"This fear has completely stimulated my imagination! Go forth! Wraiths of Brittia! Devour the soul of this Fairy!" Rustyrose commanded.
Dozens of small, ghastly purple phantoms erupted from the ground around him, screeching as they swarmed toward Cana like a horde of hungry locusts.
"Purify!"
Cana didn't panic. She drew a specific card from her deck and slashed it through the air. A brilliant, blinding golden light erupted from her body, illuminating the entire battlefield.
The moment the purple phantoms touched the golden light, they shrieked in agony and instantly dissolved into ash.
The golden light rapidly expanded outward, entirely purging the area of Rustyrose's summoned wraiths within seconds.
Cana nodded in satisfaction, extremely pleased with the card's effectiveness. She had spent a small fortune buying the necessary materials and asked Noah to help her craft it. The card allowed her to unleash a fraction of Noah's potent Light Magic, which possessed an incredible elemental advantage against dark and evil-aligned spells.
Rustyrose stood frozen in shock.
Those wraiths were a powerful manifestation born directly from his genuine fear! Yet they had been effortlessly eradicated the moment they appeared!
Cana didn't give him time to recover. She flicked another card with her left hand, firing a thick bolt of lightning straight at him.
This time, Rustyrose reacted quickly. Seeing the lightning approaching, he dove to the side, rolling clumsily across the dirt to dodge the attack.
"DAMMIT ALL!" Rustyrose screamed, furious at how pathetic and humiliated he looked. When had he ever been forced to tuck and roll in the dirt like a common thug?!
Glaring at Cana, he began gathering a massive amount of magic power.
Cana sensed the buildup. While she prepared to fire another lightning bolt, she decided to play it safe and take a step back to see what he was planning.
However, before her lightning bolt could even reach Rustyrose, it vanished into thin air. Simultaneously, Cana felt her body stiffen; she was completely paralyzed, entirely unable to move from her spot.
"Come forth! Tower of Dingir! Let this foolish Fairy experience true despair and return to dust!" Rustyrose roared triumphantly.
A colossal, jagged stone tower erupted from the earth directly beneath Cana's feet. She found herself trapped near the outer edge of the tower, rapidly ascending high into the sky as the massive structure grew.
"What is... this... I can't move my body..."
Cana struggled violently, but only her upper torso could move. Her entire lower half was perfectly encased and immobilized by the stone of the tower.
"UHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Seeing that he had finally secured the upper hand and completely trapped Cana, Rustyrose threw his head back and laughed maniacally.
"You look pretty smug," Cana remarked casually, not sounding panicked in the slightest despite being trapped hundreds of feet in the air.
"Of course! My magic is undeniably the strongest! And you are about to be utterly crushed by it! Hahaha!" Rustyrose gloated.
"Hehehe."
Suddenly, Cana started laughing too.
Rustyrose paused, his laughter dying in his throat. "What are you laughing at?"
"I'm laughing because you're about to lose, and you don't even realize it," Cana smirked.
"To think you'd be so terrified by my magic that you've resorted to daydreaming," Rustyrose shook his head mockingly, feigning pity.
Cana simply smiled brightly, offering no further response.
A sudden, inexplicable wave of anxiety washed over Rustyrose. He decided to end it immediately. He raised his hands, preparing to pump massive amounts of magic into the tower to crush her.
Suddenly, he noticed a network of stark white, glowing cracks spider-webbing across the base of the tower.
"Done!" Cana's voice echoed from above.
The white cracks spread at terrifying speed, instantly covering the entirety of the colossal stone tower.
Following the fault lines, the entire tower shattered into millions of tiny, cube-like fragments that dissolved harmlessly into the air.
Cana was instantly freed from her stone prison. She had just used the ultimate destruction magic her father had taught her—Crash Magic—to completely pulverize the tower encasing her. If she wasn't still a beginner with the spell, she would have broken out much faster; she had needed to carefully control the output to avoid accidentally crushing her own legs.
Now in freefall, Cana smoothly drew a card and threw it behind her. A solid stone boulder materialized in mid-air. Using it as a springboard, she kicked off the boulder with explosive force, rocketing straight down toward Rustyrose like a meteor.
Seeing Cana hurtling toward him with murderous intent, Rustyrose instinctively tried to retreat, only to find his feet firmly bound to the earth by thick, magical vines.
He looked up and saw Cana casually putting away a trap card.
"I am the King of the Underworld! This arm is the pitch-black blade that severs all creation!"
Realizing he couldn't dodge, Rustyrose had no choice but to counterattack. His right arm morphed into a massive, jagged, claw-like sword. He thrust it upward, the blade rapidly extending to skewer the falling Cana.
"Crash!"
Cana's right fist glowed with an intense, blinding white light. She punched the tip of the incoming dark blade head-on.
Stark white fractures instantly spider-webbed down the length of the blade. The entire weapon shattered into countless cubic fragments that dissolved into nothingness, completely clearing the path between them.
With her momentum completely unchecked, Cana's glowing fist slammed squarely into Rustyrose's face, driving him brutally into the ground.
The catastrophic force cratered the earth beneath him. Furthermore, due to the residual effects of the Crash Magic, numerous deep, jagged lacerations exploded across Rustyrose's body. Blood sprayed violently from the wounds as he instantly lost consciousness.
"I can't let you die just yet."
While she was trapped on the tower, Cana had noticed the three crippled Grimoire Heart members lying near Noah's Thought Projection. She knew exactly what Noah had done to them.
She grabbed the unconscious Rustyrose by the collar and began dragging him toward the base camp.
"You look absolutely terrifying right now," Noah's Thought Projection remarked dryly as Cana approached.
Because she had hit him at point-blank range, Cana was completely drenched in Rustyrose's blood. With her face and clothes stained crimson, and leaving a trail of blood from the dark mage she was dragging with one hand, she looked like a literal demon crawling out of hell.
"You think I wanted to look like this? I tried to hold back, but this spell is a nightmare to control! Just clean me up already," Cana rolled her eyes, impatient.
Crash Magic was notoriously difficult to master. It possessed catastrophic destructive power and was inherently chaotic. She had genuinely tried to hold back; if she hadn't, Rustyrose would be in pieces right now instead of just heavily bleeding.
"Alright, alright."
Noah's projection nodded. He waved his hand, and a gentle pulse of cleansing magic washed over Cana, instantly removing all the blood and grime from her body and clothes. He then pointed a finger at Rustyrose, casting a basic healing spell to stop the severe bleeding so the man wouldn't bleed out.
Dropping Rustyrose on the ground, Cana stepped back. Noah's projection went through his usual routine: placing sealing runes over the dark mage's body, permanently crippling his magical core, and tossing him onto the growing pile of defeated Seven Kin alongside Azuma, Zancrow, and Kain.
"As expected of my Cana-chan! What an amazing fight!"
Gildarts, having watched the entire sequence, could no longer contain his excitement. The moment Cana was clean, he lunged forward, attempting to tackle her in a massive bear hug.
"Stupid old man! Get away from me!" Cana panicked, throwing both hands up and pressing them flat against Gildarts's face, desperately trying to keep him at arm's length.
"Cana-chan~ My magic is super strong, isn't it?!" Gildarts mumbled through her fingers, still trying to hug her.
"It's decent. But it's way too annoying to control," Cana replied honestly, seeing the pathetic, hopeful look in his eyes.
"Hehehe! As long as it's useful!" Gildarts laughed dopily.
"However," Gildarts suddenly stopped pushing. He stood up straight, his expression turning incredibly serious. "You have to train rigorously. You must dedicate yourself entirely to mastering control over this magic. If you don't, the sheer destructive nature of Crash Magic will eventually cause a tragedy you will deeply regret."
"I know. Ever since you taught it to me, I've been training non-stop specifically to improve my control," Cana nodded firmly.
"That's my girl! Cana-chan really is the absolute best!" His serious facade lasted exactly three seconds before he reverted to a doting idiot, lunging for another hug.
"No! Stay back!" Cana shoved him away again.
The father and daughter engaged in a comical shoving match.
Noah's projection ignored them completely, continuing to log the data from the remaining battles.
Several angels and enslaved human spirits were locked in a chaotic brawl. Amidst the fray, Sorano and two of her Battle Angels were fighting a grueling 3v1 against Capricorn.
BAM!
Sorano exchanged a heavy punch with the goat-man, only to be forced back several steps by the impact.
Capricorn immediately tried to press the advantage and pursue her, but the two Battle Angels seamlessly stepped in, forcing him to block their spear thrusts and halting his advance.
Huff... huff...
Sorano took several deep breaths, trying to steady her erratic heartbeat.
"This magic is incredibly annoying," Sorano complained bitterly.
Due to the suppression effect of Capricorn's Human Subordination magic, her magical output and physical combat capabilities were significantly nerfed. Every action felt sluggish and restricted. Attacks she would normally execute with flawless precision were falling short.
To compensate for the debuff and match Capricorn's strength, she had to forcefully pump significantly more magic power into every single spell and movement. As a result, her stamina and magical reserves were draining at an alarming rate. It was a massive tactical disadvantage.
"Naturally. It is an Ancient Magic wielded by kings, designed specifically to subjugate and dominate the masses beneath them," Capricorn replied calmly, parrying an angel's strike.
~~~
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