Chapter 74: Tower of Heaven
Beside Dino, a punk-looking guy with blonde hair and earrings stared in shock as Dino suddenly shattered through the spatial barrier and appeared.
"What?! He broke through my spatial magic! Who the hell are you?!"
"Dino!" Lucy and Erza shouted in surprise when they saw him appear.
"Someone want to explain what's going on here? Is this blonde punk an enemy or what?" Dino clenched his fists as he spoke. White spherical auras of atmospheric pressure formed around them—being imprisoned out of nowhere had put him in a foul mood.
Lucy pointed urgently. "That's right! He's the one who suddenly trapped everyone inside those cards!"
Erza immediately stepped forward, raising her hand. "Wait! Dino, don't attack yet!"
Before Dino could respond, the blonde guy bristled with indignation. "You bastard, don't come here and interrupt my reunion with Erza-nee! I'll lock you up again right now!"
He whipped out a blank card and waved his hand to activate his magic, but nothing happened. Dino remained standing there, completely unaffected.
The blonde's jaw dropped. "Huh?! Why… why didn't it work?!"
Dino replied calmly, "It's just spatial magic. Sure, it's got decent baseline power, but once you exceed its limits, it's not that impressive. Besides, spatial magic relies on stable space to function. When the surrounding space itself is fractured, your magic can't activate properly."
As he spoke, Dino flicked his wrist. A shockwave of compressed air shot forward.
"Gwaah!" The guy—Sho—screamed as he was sent flying backward, crashing through a casino table and reducing it to splinters.
"Sho!" At his scream, three more figures emerged from the shadows.
Dino moved to Erza's side. Seeing the fear and tension in her expression made his chest tighten. He gently pulled her head against his shoulder. "As long as I'm here, you don't need to be afraid of anything."
"Dino…"
"Erza, it's been a long time." A tall man with dark hair looked at Erza and spoke.
Erza's eyes widened as she took in the newcomers. "Simon, Millianna, Wally, Sho!"
"Erza!"
"I can't believe you still recognize us. You've grown up so much."
"Damn it! Who the hell are you?! What's your relationship with Erza-nee?! Get away from her!" Sho, who'd just picked himself up from Dino's attack, shouted furiously.
Dino's eyebrow twitched at the honorific. "Nee?" He didn't remember Erza having any younger siblings.
Erza said quietly to Dino, "They're… my old companions. People I haven't seen in a very long time."
"Simon, Millianna, Wally—let's take that guy down together!" Sho glared at Dino with gritted teeth.
"Hmph!" Dino stomped his foot. The entire ground trembled and quaked, throwing all four of them off balance. They stumbled and nearly fell.
"I don't care who you people are. Since you've made Erza upset, you'd better back off—otherwise I won't hold back."
"Making Erza-nee sad?! SHE'S the one who made US sad! Erza-nee betrayed us all!"
Erza grabbed Dino's arm from behind, her grip tight and anxious. "Sho… why are you all here?"
The blonde punk's expression twisted into something manic. "The Tower of Heaven is complete! We came to bring you home, Erza-nee!"
Erza's face went pale. "What?! The Tower of Heaven is finished? That's… that's impossible!"
"Tower of Heaven?" Dino's eyes narrowed. The name clicked—this was Erza's greatest trauma, the darkness of her past. He hadn't expected the plot to accelerate this quickly. He couldn't afford to let his guard down for even a moment.
Lucy looked between them, confused. "What's the Tower of Heaven?"
Erza's voice was grim. "It's a resurrection system designed to bring back the dead. It uses a living person as a sacrifice to revive someone who's already died."
"WHAT?! That kind of system exists?! Isn't that forbidden magic that violates every law of nature?!"
Sho sneered. "There's no 'law of nature' in magic. All magic defies the natural order anyway."
Erza's fists clenched. "What you're doing is no different from the dark mages you claim to oppose!"
Sho's expression became fanatical, his eyes gleaming with zealous madness. "Those fools? They treat the R-System like some common revival spell. But Jellal is different! He's going to resurrect THAT person—and when he does, the world will be completely remade! We'll rule everything!"
"The people who stole our freedom! The companion who abandoned us! Those useless cowards on the Magic Council! We'll make them all feel unprecedented fear and despair!"
"We'll strip this world of its freedom! We'll become the rulers of everything! Ahahaha!"
Dino's voice cut through the laughter like a blade. "Shut up. Your laugh is annoying."
"What did you say, you bastard?!" Sho lunged forward, but Simon grabbed his shoulder, holding him back.
"Simon, what the hell are you doing?!"
"Stop, Sho! We're no match for him." Simon's eyes fixed on Dino. "Isn't that right… Dino Maxim, one of the newly appointed Ten Wizard Saints?"
"Oh? You know who I am?"
"Even though there aren't many photos circulating, your name has spread across the continent recently. Combined with that earthquake magic… there couldn't be another person in the world with abilities like yours."
"If you know who I am, why would you show yourselves so brazenly?"
Suddenly, Simon dropped to one knee, bowing his head. "There's something I need to ask of you. I want you to help us destroy the Tower of Heaven."
Everyone froze. Erza stared at Simon in disbelief. "Simon… you…"
Sho practically vibrated with rage. "SIMON! Do you realize what you're saying?!"
"You want us to destroy the Tower of Heaven we spent EIGHT YEARS building with our own hands?!"
"Have you gone crazy too?! Are you betraying us just like Erza-nee did?! Betraying Jellal?!"
Simon shook his head firmly. "I haven't gone crazy. The one who's lost his mind is Jellal. Even though he hasn't spent much time in the outside world, I've done my research on the history of magic and mages."
"The dark mage Zeref that Jellal wants to resurrect is known as the most evil and dangerous wizard in all of history. Bringing back someone like that will only bring disaster to the entire world."
"The Tower of Heaven has brought Erza nothing but painful memories. If you truly are Erza's companion…" Simon looked up at Dino with desperate sincerity. "…then please, I'm begging you. Help us destroy it."