The people nearby were startled by Noah's sudden appearance, but the village chief quickly calmed them down.
Noah shook his head and said,
"No, I just came from somewhere else to check on you. I only wanted to make sure you weren't in danger."
He then turned to the village chief, who had hurried over after settling the villagers.
"I'll deal with the enemy quickly. You just wait here for the Kingdom's army and the Magic Council to arrive. I've already notified them."
Erza's eyes filled with worry.
"Brother Noah, this is your real body now, isn't it? You won't be in danger, right?"
Noah's face lit up with a confident smile.
"Of course not. I'm a wizard of Fairy Tail. Just remember to watch closely later. Don't miss anything. I'm leaving now."
With that, a teleportation circle flared beneath his feet, and he vanished.
The village chief felt reassured by Noah's words and quickly organized everyone to settle down and rest nearby.
Still confused, Erza muttered,
"What does Brother Noah want us to look at? What's so important here?"
Simon frowned slightly.
"I don't know either. But from the way Noah spoke, I think we'll understand soon enough."
Though puzzled by Noah's instructions, Erza and the others followed the village chief to a resting place, waiting for what was to come.
Noah reappeared beside his thought form and caught the cult leader staring at him in shock. Noah grinned confidently.
"What's wrong? Never seen someone this handsome before? Or are you just too stunned?"
The cult leader's eyes darted between Noah and his double. Their faces were identical only the torn clothing and dust-stained cheeks of the thought form distinguished them.
In truth, the thought body's clothes should have remained untouched, but Noah had deliberately altered its appearance. The rips and dirt were all to make the illusion believable, ensuring the cult leader's suspicion never rose.
The cult leader steadied himself after hearing Noah's words.
"Twins, then?"
Noah and his thought form laughed in unison. The thought body stepped closer until the two stood shoulder to shoulder, barely a fist's width apart. Then, speaking as one, they declared:
"Wrong. We've always been the same person from the very beginning."
The thought body began to blur, its outline flickering like smoke as it drifted toward Noah. The closer it came, the fainter it became, until at last the two figures overlapped completely and the duplicate vanished.
In that instant, Noah's magic power surged. A gale exploded outward, so fierce that the cult leader had to shield his eyes, unable to keep them open against the storm.
Noah stretched, rolling his shoulders with a long sigh.
"Ah… it feels good to have my magic back in full. I was so uncomfortable when I had to fight with only half my strength."
The cult leader's face twisted in disbelief.
"It… it was a thought body all along?!"
The cult leader was stunned, and Noah tilted his head curiously.
"Uncle, you actually know about Thought Projection?"
"Don't take me for some ignorant fool!" the man snapped.
"What a pity," Noah replied calmly. "Educated, but gone astray. Uncle, you hit me hard just now. Now it's my turn."
The cult leader's face twisted with rage.
"You dare say you enjoyed the fight?! How many of my men were injured by those traps of yours, you damn brat!"
Noah only smiled faintly, pretending not to listen.
"Well, I'm being chased everywhere, so I have no choice but to fight back."
The cult leader roared in fury.
"Everyone, kill this little devil!"
But the cult members hesitated. Noah's earlier performance had shaken them, and not a single one dared to advance. Their leader barked at them again and again, but fear held them in place.
Noah smirked inwardly. Their hesitation suited him perfectly. With no one daring to attack, he could begin gathering his strength.
"I've got enough magic power now. I can finally use it. What should I say at this point? Oh right according to Fairy Tail's judgment, I'll give you a countdown. Three seconds. Kneel and repent!"
"One!"
At once, the cult leader bellowed,
"You dare tell me to kneel and repent? Kill him, now!"
"Two!"
Noah raised both hands, palms facing each other in front of his chest. Between them, a golden sphere of light flickered into existence, swelling as waves of magic gathered from all directions into its core.
Panic swept through the cultists. Even the slowest among them could tell he was charging a devastating spell. Desperate, they hurled every kind of magic they could muster at Noah, trying to disrupt him.
"Three!"
"Time's up."
Noah closed his eyes and pressed his palms together around the golden sphere. Blinding beams shot outward, shattering and dissolving all the magic aimed at him.
The light spread faster, brighter, until it was as if the night itself had been burned away. The entire battlefield was bathed in gold.
"Fairy Law… activate!"
Noah's eyes snapped open, twin golden magic circles glowing in them, each with the Fairy Tail emblem blazing at the center.
The light intensified, swallowing the cult's spells with ease.
Erza and the others, who had stopped to rest with the villagers, looked up in shock as the horizon itself erupted into golden radiance.
"What is that light?!"
"So bright… I can't even look directly at it!"
High above, a colossal golden magic circle unfurled in the sky, expanding until it covered the whole of Rosemary Village and the land around it. In the center of the circle, the Fairy Tail emblem gleamed proudly, visible to everyone Erza, Simon, Kagura, the villagers burned deep into their memories.
Then, in an instant, the circle contracted inward and exploded outward again. A tidal wave of golden light surged across the land, so brilliant that the villagers shielded their eyes, unable to keep them open.
"I can't open my eyes!"
The villagers of Rosemary Village turned their heads away or covered their faces, some even moved to tears by the brilliance of the light.
Erza closed her eyes tightly and whispered in awe,
"So this is what Brother Noah wanted us to see… Brother Noah is incredible!"
Simon, eyes shut as well, nodded.
"Yeah… it's amazing. I never imagined Noah had this much strength. I never noticed it before."
Kagura clung to Simon's side, her small voice trembling,
"This light… it feels so warm."
"Yes," Simon replied softly, "it's very warm."
The glow slowly faded, the radiance dimming until the golden brilliance finally disappeared from Rosemary Village.
The villagers began murmuring to one another in amazement.
"What on earth was that just now?"
"Didn't it come from inside the village?"
"That had to be magic, right? Such unbelievably powerful magic!"
"Just how strong must a wizard be to cast something like that?"
"Wait… didn't the emblem in the center of that magic circle look familiar?"
"Yes! I thought the same thing. I thought it was just me!"
The village chief spoke up, his voice steady but filled with awe.
"That emblem was the mark of the Wizard Guild, Fairy Tail. It's the guild of the young wizard who just protected us from the enemy. Fairy Tail has even sent members here before to take requests."
Realization spread among the villagers.
"So it was Fairy Tail helping us all along… I remember now. We must thank them properly."
"Yes, yes, I think so too!"
"If we have any requests in the future, we should entrust them to Fairy Tail."
"Agreed. That's the right thing to do."