Standing on the floating island, Gajeel and Happy finally realized just how massive the Magic Crystal truly was up close.
"Damn, thinking about it, this thing contains the magical power of the Master, Gildarts, and Ur," Gajeel muttered.
"Seriously, how long is it going to take to completely destroy this thing?"
"Go for it, Gajeel!" Happy cheered.
BAM!
Just as Gajeel was about to make his move, he was suddenly interrupted.
"Damn it, who the hell are you?!" Gajeel glared angrily at the tall figure hovering in the sky.
Panther Lily was floating effortlessly in the air, holding an enormous magic sword.
"This guy is...?" Happy stared wide-eyed at the white wings on the muscular black cat's back.
"I am the Captain of the First Magic War Division of the Royal Army... Panther Lily!" he declared.
"This Magic Crystal is the absolute most crucial stronghold in our current operation. I won't let you destroy it!"
"Wings... So he's an Exceed too?" Happy gasped.
"Stay back, cat!" Gajeel warned.
He could sense immediately that Panther Lily was no pushover, especially with the heavy title of Captain of the First Division.
"Iron Dragon's Sword!" Gajeel's right arm violently transformed into a jagged, black iron sword that rapidly extended toward his enemy.
Panther Lily swiftly dodged the attack, and the two red Magic Crystals on his own magic sword began to glow brightly.
The massive blade in his hand began to rapidly lengthen as well.
"Mother of Destruction!"
With Lily's incredibly powerful slash, a massive portion of the floating island's ground was completely severed and sent tumbling into the sky.
"What kind of crazy sword is that?! It's huge!" Happy cried out, heavily buffeted by the shockwave and flying debris from the devastating strike.
"This guy... is way stronger than I expected." Gajeel didn't dare let his guard down for a second.
"Do you really think you can defeat me?" Lily challenged.
...
Meanwhile in the Royal Capital—
"An amusement park?" Raizel and the others arrived at a very peculiar, colorful building within the royal capital.
"There's actually an amusement park here?" Lucy tugged at her hair in pure disbelief.
"Is the king here completely out of his mind?" Though Natsu said this, his face was absolutely brimming with excitement.
"Looking at your goofy expression, I'd say you two would get along just fine..." Gray facepalmed with a heavy sweatdrop.
"This looks like fun."
Right after Raizel's group entered the area, the nearby merry-go-round suddenly started up on its own.
Sugarboy, clad in his signature pink armor, appeared before Raizel alongside Hughes.
The massive pirate ship ride behind them also abruptly began to move.
"It's a real damn shame that such joyful magical power is about to vanish from this world," Hughes smirked.
Even on the violently swinging pirate ship, Hughes stood as perfectly steady as if he were on solid ground, casually placing one foot on the outer railing.
"Can you Earth Landers possibly understand... our feelings?"
"Mmm... We will strive to obtain eternal, undying magical power! Even if we have to resort to any means necessary!" Sugarboy added.
"We're risking our very lives for this, so we absolutely won't allow anyone to stop us. So, will you obediently come along to the prison, or just die right here?"
"Sugarboy, there's no need to even give them a choice," Hughes scoffed.
"What an irritating tone." Raizel narrowed his eyes, feeling genuinely angered for the first time in a long while.
"Step back, everyone. I think it's time I taught these bastards a lesson—to show them that there's always someone stronger, and that they desperately need to learn some humility."
"Take Over: Jesmon."
"Bet on how long it'll take Raizel to finish this trash off?" Gray yawned, totally unbothered by the enemies.
"One round?"
"Can I guess for a moment?" Natsu timidly raised his hand.
"There are literally two people here, at least show a little respect for the fight," Lucy objected, though she wasn't particularly worried either.
Magic power continuously erupted from Raizel's body in massive waves, so incredibly powerful that the surrounding space actually appeared distorted.
"Those who abuse magic power and don't understand its true value don't deserve to live," Raizel stated coldly.
Hughes was absolutely furious seeing Raizel waste so much magic power so recklessly.
"Perish!"
As Hughes' command baton lit up, the entire massive pirate ship came violently crashing down directly toward Raizel.
"Eek!!! The ship's coming!" Lucy, standing right behind Raizel, was even more terrified than he was.
"Pathetic technique."
Raizel crossed his sharp arm blades in front of his chest and charged fearlessly right toward the plummeting pirate ship.
With one perfect, blinding cross-slash, Raizel cleanly cut the entire pirate ship into four massive pieces that heavily crashed to the ground around him.
"What?!" Hughes, who had been just about to burst into arrogant laughter, suddenly realized he was completely surrounded...
Three blazing, flaming entities had instantly encircled him.
"It's over."
Hughes only heard Raizel's cold voice before he uncontrollably crashed hard into the ground.
'I'm defeated... I can't even get up...'
This was Hughes' only dizzy thought after hitting the pavement.
Blood flowed freely from his battered body, his limbs felt totally broken from the brutal impact, and his precious magical baton had been sliced cleanly in half by Raizel.
The most terrifying part was... he hadn't even reacted in time.
Despite being able to control literally anything in this amusement park, against this speed... he could do absolutely nothing.
"Your turn." Raizel stood at a higher vantage point, raising his right arm blade to point directly at Sugarboy.
Every single hair on Sugarboy's body stood on end.
From his angle, he had barely managed to catch a glimpse of Raizel's fading afterimage, but this also made him painfully realize... he was absolutely no match for this monster.
But Sugarboy wasn't just going to stand there and wait for death.
He aggressively raised his Rosa Espada—the Rose Sword—toward Raizel.
His sword possessed the magic to soften anything it touched.
"Just who the hell are you?!" Sugarboy yelled.
"Fairy Tail, Raizel. Given the massive difference in our power, do you really think that flimsy sword will help you?"
"How would I know without trying?!" Sugarboy still had desperate confidence in his Rose Sword.
If he could just manage to touch Raizel's arm blades, he should be able to soften Raizel's tough armor, giving him a slim chance at victory.
"Here he comes!" Sugarboy, pushing himself to his absolute peak condition, barely managed to detect Raizel's blinding arrival and desperately swung his sword.
Clang!
The blade struck solidly against Raizel's shoulder.
"Its ineffective...?" Sugarboy's face twisted into utter, horrifying disbelief.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!"
Refusing to accept this bullshit, Sugarboy raised his Rose Sword high and furiously brought it down again.
Craaack— Something shattered, but it was the Rose Sword itself that broke into pieces.
"It is truly ineffective... just what kind of monster are you?" Sugarboy gasped.
Raizel had deliberately let himself be hit, including that first strike
He had intentionally slowed down at the very last moment—otherwise, Sugarboy could have swung at him for a lifetime without ever landing a single hit.
He did it all just to completely crush the man's confidence.
The Rose Sword was a decent weapon, sure, but it only worked on non-living objects.
After using his Take Over Magic, Raizel's entire armored form became a living, breathing entity, making the Rose Sword completely useless no matter where it struck.
"You don't need to know. You've already lost." Raizel casually swung his right arm blade horizontally, cleanly and completely shattering Sugarboy's pink armor.
Sugarboy was sent violently flying backward, crashing heavily into a brick wall and creating a large crater before slowly sliding down, his broken body quickly buried under the resulting rubble.
He wasn't dead, having been slightly protected by his armor at the last second, but he definitely wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.
After all, keeping them alive would be quite useful to Mystogan during the kingdom's reconstruction later.
Watching Sugarboy get absolutely swatted down by Raizel, Hughes—who was still bleeding on the ground—wisely chose to close his eyes and just play dead.
The remaining ambushing kingdom soldiers instinctively retreated several steps in pure terror.
Though they held their weapons tight and wore heavy armor, standing before Raizel made them feel utterly unprotected, with cold sweat streaming rapidly down their backs.