At that moment, Mystogan, having recovered slightly from the illusion's backlash and the sharp pain in his shoulders, slowly stood up straight.
He glanced at the wounds on his shoulders, which were still oozing a strange azure energy, then looked up at the vigilant Sagittarius WereGarurumon in the air.
From under his mask came a nearly inaudible sigh, followed by an unprecedented solemnity.
"I underestimated you. In that case, take this move as a... final tribute to your strength."
He no longer concealed his fading aura, but his hands came together before his chest again with a slow, firm motion.
There were no staves, no incantations, but his remaining magic, along with some of the energy that had dispersed after the Skyscraper illusion collapsed, began to converge into his palms in an esoteric trajectory.
The air let out a low moan, and light collapsed toward the space between his hands.
A tiny, yet soul-shakingly terrifying, pitch-black point of light slowly emerged.
"This body, a bridge between the void and reality; this heart, a mirror reflecting eternity..." he softly recited a mysterious incantation, one he had never shown to anyone.
"Forbidden Art: Wedge of Eternal Slumber."
The pitch-black point of light pulsed slightly, like the heart of a living creature.
An intangible, formless intent of slumber and annihilation, yet deeper and more fundamental than "Skyscraper," began to spread.
This was not a spell that attacked the physical body, but one that directly targeted the essence of existence, attempting to forcibly cast the target's "consciousness" and "sense of being" into eternal slumber and nothingness.
If hit, the body might remain, but everything within would fall into a dead silence.
Sensing the great terror contained within that black point of light, the fur on Sagittarius WereGarurumon's entire body stood on end as its biological instincts screamed warnings.
Without hesitation, it slammed the laser blades in its claws together, combining them.
The hilts of the two light blades fit together perfectly, extending and transforming into a large energy bow of an even more exaggerated design, its entire body flowing with azure data streams and sharp blades extending from both ends of the bowstring.
Simultaneously, the "Sagittarius" wing pack on its back fully deployed.
All vector thrusters turned to face backward, their light reaching its maximum intensity.
WereGarurumon poured all its energy, along with the unique data-enhancement power of its Chrome Digizoid form, into the light without reservation.
It locked onto the terrifyingly fluctuating black point of light below, and behind it, Mystogan, whose face was as pale as paper, clearly having paid a huge price to cast this spell.
The light compressed and shaped all its energy into three deep blue energy star arrows, connected head-to-tail in a triangular formation.
The core of the arrows was highly concentrated frozen data, wrapped in spiraling streams of azure energy. In their wake, they left faint, lingering trails of ice in space.
Like a judgment, it tore through the air, carrying Sagittarius WereGarurumon's unyielding resolve as it smashed head-on into the "Wedge of Eternal Slumber" that Mystogan had just finished forming and was about to fire.
Silence.
There was no earth-shattering explosion, no dazzling brilliance.
There was only the silent annihilation, cancellation, and erosion of two forces of different natures, both touching upon the level of fundamental rules, within an extremely small area.
The pitch-black point of light and the azure star arrows simultaneously stalled, dimmed, and shattered.
Finally—
"Pfft!"
As if struck by a heavy blow, Mystogan spat out a large mouthful of blood and staggered backward.
He slid down against a rock pillar and sat on the ground, his mask completely stained red.
His aura had weakened to the extreme, and the light in his eyes quickly faded.
The backlash from the incomplete forbidden art, combined with the erosion from the residual power of the "Sagittarius Triple Shot," had completely robbed him of his ability to fight.
Sagittarius WereGarurumon also slowly descended from mid-air, landing on one knee and panting heavily.
The azure light on its body dissipated, and the wing pack vanished as if it had never been there.
After reverting to its basic WereGarurumon form, only its eyes remained sharp, fixed on its fallen opponent.
The illusion completely vanished, and the stone forest returned to its original appearance, albeit in a state of utter ruin.
Silence descended.
There was only the sound of the wind and the faint whoosh of other teams rapidly approaching from a distance.
Ace quickly stepped forward to support the weakened WereGarurumon, then looked at the faintly breathing Mystogan leaning against a rock pillar in the distance.
Mystogan slowly raised his head, his blood-stained mask facing Ace's direction.
He seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he just managed to lift a hand and signal again.
"I... have lost."
"S-Class, Mystogan... is withdrawing."
The emblem on his body completely dimmed and disappeared from the holographic map.
An S-Class mage, defeated and withdrawn.
Ace let out a long sigh.
He exchanged glances with Lisanna, GrapLeomon, and WereGarurumon, seeing the exhaustion and the joy of victory in each other's eyes.
This mysterious mage, who's an S-Class rank in Fairy Tail purely through his extraordinary combat intelligence and endless supply of magic items without a shred of his own magic, now sat there quietly like burnt-out embers.
After they left, the sound of hurried footsteps approached from several directions.
The first to arrive was Master Makarov.
The short old man appeared beside Mystogan in a few leaps, crouching down with a face full of gravity and concern as he quickly checked his injuries.
"Mystogan! How are you?"
Next, Gildarts strolled over.
He glanced at the scene, raised an eyebrow, and took a swig of his drink without a word, but the surprise in his eyes was obvious.
Accompanied by the sound of a thunderstorm tearing through the air, Laxus crashed to the ground like a golden god of thunder.
He crossed his arms, arcs of electricity dancing at the tips of his spiky golden hair.
His gaze first swept disdainfully over the barely breathing Mystogan leaning against the pillar.
Then, the arrogant smile on his face suddenly froze, replaced by incredulous shock.
"Hey, hey, are you kidding me..." Laxus's eyes widened, his voice tinged with a tremor he himself didn't notice.
"Masked dude... you actually lost in a place like this? To a rookie brat who's been in the guild for less than a year?"
He had indeed heard of this rookie's fame, but he had never truly paid it any mind.
In his eyes, this rookie was at best a "somewhat interesting weakling" who got lucky and had special Summoned Beasts.
Yet the reality before him was like a silent slap, viciously striking his arrogant face.
Mystogan had lost, and so completely that even his signature staves were all shattered.
Master Makarov finished his examination, his brow tightly furrowed.
He spoke to Mystogan in a deep voice, "Your injuries are serious, your magic is severely depleted, and there's a strange energy eroding you... We must take you back for treatment immediately."
But Mystogan just shook his head slightly, a small movement that nonetheless carried an unquestionable refusal.
He raised his uninjured arm and waved it with some difficulty, his voice hoarse and faint, but clear.
"There's no need... Master."
Makarov was taken aback.
Seeing that even while gravely injured, Mystogan still exuded that cold, distant aura that pushed everyone away, a flash of understanding and a helpless ache of sympathy crossed his heart.
He opened his mouth, but it ultimately turned into a nearly inaudible sigh, muttering only to himself in his mind.
'You child... still so stubborn, so cold. Perhaps... you never truly intended to participate in the 'hunt' of this S-Class trial from the very beginning...'
The old man's cloudy eyes seemed to see through time, to see something deeper.
Mystogan's voluntary participation was already somewhat unusual, what was he really thinking?
Mystogan simply raised his head slowly, his blood-stained mask turning in the direction Ace had left.
His eyes, hidden in shadow and grime, seemed to give Ace a deep, complex look—one of assessment, of acknowledgment, and perhaps a faint trace of relief.
Laxus snapped back from his shock.
Seeing Mystogan's still indifferent state, an irritation and an even more blazing battle lust surged in his heart.
The lightning around him crackled uncontrollably, turning nearby rubble to dust.
"Tch. One after another, you're all so damn annoying." He spat, his golden pupils locking onto Ace, his mouth splitting into an aggressive grin.
"But... to be able to take down the Masked dude, kid, you've certainly earned the right for me to get a little serious."
BOOM!
An even more violent power of Lightning erupted from him, soaring into the sky.
Along with Gildarts's presence, it caused the air in the stone forest, which had just quieted down, to freeze and boil once more.
On the holographic map, the golden circle had shrunk to one-sixth of the entire island, coincidentally encompassing most of this stone forest.
And the light points representing the S-Class hunters, with his departure, now numbered only two—Gildarts and Laxus.
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