"Whoa!! We're actually standing on clouds!"
The moment everyone stepped through the Gate of Light, the snowy landscape of Northern Snow Village disappeared completely.
In its place was an impossibly clear blue sky.
Every breath of fresh air carried an extraordinary amount of Magic Power, and several distant islands could be seen scattered across the horizon.
Even stranger was the ground beneath their feet.
They were standing on a floating mass of cloud that resembled an island in the sky.
Everyone stared around in amazement, talking over one another as they tried to make sense of the sudden change in scenery.
Ankh quietly crouched down and scooped up a handful of the cloud beneath him.
It felt almost like cotton, except much softer and finer.
There was hardly any resistance at all, yet it still held its shape beneath their weight.
It was almost like water that could be kneaded and molded.
"This cloud is made from extremely dense Magic Power," Ankh said in surprise.
Mirajane leaned closer.
"Natural Magic Power can form clouds?"
"Definitely not in Earth Land."
Ankh looked around.
"But this place is probably different."
He straightened.
"This should be another parallel world, like Edolas—similar to Earth Land in some ways, but governed by different conditions."
Kagura and the others who had never experienced the Edolas incident looked completely lost.
After Erza briefly explained what had happened back then, their expressions changed to astonishment.
"So this really is another world? That Gate of Light can transport people between worlds?"
"That's what it looks like."
Ankh glanced back at the stable portal standing on the cloud before turning his attention toward the distant horizon.
"With technology like this, the mages kidnapped by the White Magic Cult could easily have been hidden here."
Gray frowned.
"That makes things a lot harder. How are we supposed to find a group of people hidden somewhere in an entire world?"
The more thoughtful members of the group fell silent.
The less thoughtful ones immediately started causing trouble.
Natsu threw his head back and unleashed a roar into the sky, then turned toward everyone with sparkling eyes.
"Hey! Look at this! My roar is way stronger here!"
Erik tested his own magic by releasing a stream of poison and raised an eyebrow.
"He's right. My poison feels stronger too."
"And we can maintain our transformations without any trouble."
At some point, Panther Lily and Carla had both shifted into human form.
Neither showed the slightest sign of strain, which made Happy stare at them with open envy.
Ichiya was busy spraying perfume around himself.
Even with his eyes closed, he looked deeply moved.
"Even the fragrance of Men has become so much more enchanting~"
Bacchus, whose magic focused heavily on physical enhancement, hadn't noticed much difference yet. Instead, he looked curiously at the Dragon Slayers.
"Come to think of it, aren't you guys getting motion sick from standing on a cloud?"
"Urk—!"
Natsu, Wendy, and the others immediately went green.
"So it really was psychological?!"
The idiots promptly descended into chaos.
Erza finally lost patience, marched over, and punched each of them once.
Silence returned almost immediately.
"Stronger magic…"
Amid the commotion, Ankh suddenly remembered something.
It had happened during the great war six months earlier, after he was gravely injured and taken away by Irene and Selene for treatment.
He had been unconscious at the time, but his body had still retained a vague awareness of the environment around him.
Before eventually reaching Edolas, he seemed to remember spending time somewhere overflowing with Magic Power.
Ankh closed his eyes and concentrated on the atmosphere around them.
"This place…"
The sensation became increasingly familiar.
"Is this Elentear?"
Mirajane, who had barely left his side since they arrived, immediately asked,
"What's Elentear?"
Seeing everyone else looking equally curious, Ankh explained,
"Another parallel world. Edolas has very little Magic Power, but Elentear is basically the exact opposite. There's so much magic here that it borders on absurd."
He glanced toward the distant islands.
"And if I remember correctly, this world is also the main territory of Selene, the Moon Dragon God. When I was recovering six months ago, she brought me here."
Everyone present had experienced the Three-Continent War and remembered the Moon Dragon God who appeared on the battlefield.
The Fairy Tail members had even seen Selene a few times afterward, usually when she came to deliver messages to Ankh.
Kagura's eyes immediately lit up.
"Selene saved you six months ago, didn't she? Why don't we ask her for help? If this is her territory, she should know the area better than anyone."
Erza looked less convinced.
"Bro said Selene only helped because she needed something from him. This is our personal problem. She might not be willing to get involved."
Natsu, however, had considerably more faith in dragons.
"We might as well try! It's better than wandering around the entire world looking for people."
Ankh nodded.
"Agreed. We need somewhere to start anyway. We can't stay floating on this cloud forever."
He thought for a moment.
"I remember Selene mentioning that her base was called Black Moon Mountain. Let's get down from here first and ask around."
Everyone agreed.
Then came the more immediate problem of figuring out how to descend from the cloud.
Before anyone could make a plan, however, the sea far below suddenly exploded upward in a column of water several meters high.
An enormous black shadow surged toward them.
Ankh sensed it first.
"Watch out!"
The shadow stretched all the way into the sky.
Only then did everyone finally see what it actually was.
A gigantic hand.
It was so enormous that it could have wrapped around the entire group in a single grip.
"What the hell is that thing?!"
Before anyone could study it properly, strange black markings spread across the hand.
Then it slammed violently toward them.
Ankh's eyes turned cold.
He immediately leaped into the air and drove a kick into the incoming palm.
BOOM—!
The enormous hand was knocked violently aside, but the shockwave still struck the cloud beneath everyone's feet.
The thick mass of condensed Magic Power split and buckled under the force.
Then another gigantic hand erupted from the sea.
It lunged upward and closed around the cloud.
The platform beneath everyone fractured completely.
Two large pieces were seized in the enormous hand before being hurled in opposite directions with tremendous force.
Ankh drew his sword and cut the attacking hand apart, reducing it to ash.
But by the time he freed himself and tried to chase after the scattered clouds, most of his companions had already vanished into the distance.
"Ankh!"
Ultear immediately activated Arc of Time, forcing back several more giant hands emerging from the sea.
The scenery around them was rapidly retreating as their cloud continued flying away, and concern entered her voice.
"These things seem extremely sensitive to concentrated Magic Power. The group's been split up. What do we do?"
Ankh quickly checked who remained with him.
Mirajane was still there.
Almost all of Crime Sorcière had ended up on the same cloud as well, with the exceptions of Jellal and Erik.
Everyone else had been scattered by the giant hands.
Mirajane carefully replayed the brief chaos in her mind before giving a precise assessment.
"Erik and Gajeel were thrown together with Erza, Lucy, and the rest of the strongest team."
"Jellal ended up with Kagura and the revenge group."
Both groups still had powerful fighters.
Ankh nodded slightly and relaxed.
They had already agreed to regroup at Black Moon Mountain, so everyone should know where to head next.
Besides, it had been a long time since the others were forced to handle an unexpected situation completely on their own, without Ankh or the guild around to protect them.
A little independent experience wouldn't hurt.
Especially in a world like this.
Elentear's enormous concentration of Magic Power significantly amplified the abilities of mages.
Even if Larcade himself appeared, Ankh doubted he could easily stop any of the scattered groups from escaping.