Chapter 166: Crisis Resolved
"Don't be so arrogant—!"
Laxus, his face a mask of bloody rage, his Dragon Slayer scales shimmering with power, roared as he pushed himself from the crater.
"Ren! The outcome between you and me hasn't been decided yet! Don't think you've already won!"
His body was a beacon of golden magic power and raw lightning. This technique, his Lightning Dragon Slayer Mode, activated his body to a primal level, massively increasing his attack power, defense, and, most importantly, his speed.
BOOM!
Laxus appeared in front of Ren in an instant, his movement a golden, thunderous blur. His lightning-clad fist, now more like a dragon's claw, struck towards Ren's face.
The fist was extremely fast. Ren's Six Eyes registered the attack, and his Limitless Cursed Technique automatically engaged, the air in front of him thickening into an invisible, infinite barrier.
Laxus's attack, supercharged with Dragon Slayer Magic, tore into the Limitless field. It didn't stop instantly as his previous attacks had. It pierced through, its speed slowing, but not stopping. It was clear the raw, elemental power of a dragon was a powerful counter.
But it was not a perfect counter. The fist was still delayed, even for just a fraction of a moment, by the Limitless Cursed Technique.
And in a battle between masters, a single moment can decide the outcome.
Ren stepped forward with his left foot, moving into the attack. He lowered his head, and the fist that was meant to shatter his skull grazed past his neck, missing by a hair's breadth. The fine golden lightning arcs that lashed out from the punch were all repelled and neutralized by the Limitless field.
Laxus's eyes widened in shock at the point-blank dodge. It was a fatal opening.
Ren, now inside Laxus's guard, clenched his right fist, gathering a dense, dark concentration of Cursed Energy. He punched Laxus directly in the face.
"Ugh!"
The sound was a dull, heavy thud. Laxus was knocked back by Ren's punch, his feet skidding across the rubble, but he quickly regained his balance, his Dragon Slayer resilience shaking off the blow.
He gathered a massive amount of lightning in both hands, the air screaming as he pulled them apart, forming a golden, crackling lightning halberd. He roared and hurled it at Ren at high speed.
"Lightning Dragon Halberd!!!"
The weapon tore through the air, a javelin of pure, concentrated lightning, powerful enough to level a building.
Ren did not dodge or evade. He simply raised his palm.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Blue!"
A blue, swirling orb, a miniature black hole, formed in front of Ren's palm. After the Lightning Dragon Halberd touched the Blue Sphere, the golden lightning was stretched, unraveled, and instantly, violently, decomposed and devoured, disappearing in a blink of an eye.
Laxus's ultimate weapon was erased.
"My turn," Ren said, his voice bored.
He raised his other hand. "Cursed Technique Reversal: Red!"
A red, glowing sphere of pure repulsive force blasted from his palm towards Laxus.
Boom—!
Laxus, still in the animation of his throw, had no time to dodge. "Uwaaaaaaah!"
His body was hit by the Red Sphere again. The ground beneath him was crushed and shattered by the Red's powerful repulsive force, and his body was sent flying, tumbling end over end until he finally, finally, stopped, skidding to a halt in a large crater on the far side of the ruined cathedral.
He lay in the large crater, his eyes rolled back, his body smoking, and the golden scales on his skin receding. He was, at last, unconscious.
He had already been suppressed by Ren's base form, and with two direct hits from Red to his body—even with Ren holding back—Laxus could not endure.
Freed, who had been watching from the shadows, looked at the fallen Laxus. His face was pale. From the moment he tried to intercept Ren, and Ren had so easily and contemptuously broken through his ultimate Jutsu Shiki barrier, he already knew that Laxus was unlikely to be a match for Ren.
However, he never expected such an overwhelming, one-sided victory. Was this Ren's true strength? The man hadn't even broken a sweat.
Ren, his Gojo Satoru form dissolving, reverted to his original appearance. He let out a long sigh, his shoulders slumping slightly. "Man, that form is so tiring. And so arrogant. I almost feel bad."
He walked over to the crater, grabbed one of Laxus's limp, muscular arms, and began dragging the S-Class mage from the rubble. He turned to Mira, who was still standing near the entrance, her hands clasped over her mouth.
"Mira," Ren said, his voice now his own, "I'll take Laxus back first. You should go check on the Master."
Mira nodded, her eyes filled with a complex mix of relief, fear, and sadness for Laxus.
Whoosh—!
Ren teleported with Laxus's unconscious body, appearing in front of the Fairy Tail Guild in the next instant.
At this time, many people had already gathered inside the ruined guild hall. It was all of an hour-old, battered and bruised, Fairy Tail members. The hall was noisy and chaotic, as Freed's Jutsu Shiki had caused them to fight each other. Although no one had aimed for a fatal blow, they were all bruised, battered, and emotionally raw.
"Ren!"
Erza, her armor dented, was the first to see him. Everyone in the Guild saw Ren and couldn't help but come forward. With the Master in trouble, Ren was their backbone. At this moment, everyone also knew, from Laxus's own maddened shouts, that Ren was the Master's designated successor.
No one had any objections to this. Although Ren's tenure was relatively short, his strength and his character—his willingness to fight Jose, to save Erza, and to now stop Laxus—were impeccable. He had earned the trust of the Guild members.
"Laxus!!" Natsu, his arm in a sling, shouted, his eyes wide.
Everyone also saw the unconscious, scaled, and bloody form of Laxus, whom Ren was dragging by the arm like a sack of potatoes. This guy was the culprit behind all of this.
If it were normal, Natsu and Gray would have rushed over to attack him. But seeing Laxus's current state—clearly half-dead and more severely injured than any of them—the words they wanted to curse out got stuck in their throats.
Ren, ignoring the stares, dragged Laxus's body through the parted crowd and up to the infirmary on the second floor.
"Madam Porlyusica, how is the Master doing now?"
Ren and Madam Porlyusica had met once. She disliked humans intensely, so he had only seen her that one time.
"You are... Ren?!" Porlyusica, her pink hair in a frazzle, looked at Ren with some uncertainty.
Ren nodded, "It's me!"
Porlyusica's expression was grim, her usual cantankerous nature subdued by genuine worry. "He hasn't passed the critical period yet. He's stable, for now... but whether he can pull through depends on his own will. He's an old fool, and he pushed himself too hard."
Ren glanced at Makarov, who looked so small and frail in the bed. "The Master is a blessed man," Ren said quietly. "He will definitely be fine."
"This is... Laxus?!" Porlyusica's mouth twitched when she saw the almost unrecognizable, bloody, and scaled form Ren was still dragging. "You hit him too hard! What, were you trying to kill him?!"
"I couldn't help it," Ren said, dropping Laxus's arm with a dull thud. "This guy is too stubborn and won't listen to reason, so I had to be a bit heavier-handed."
Porlyusica stared at the unconscious Dragon Slayer. 'A bit heavier-handed? This is pulverized! He didn't really mean to kill him, did he?'
"Madam Porlyusica, I'll leave this guy to you. He's alive, but he'll need a lot of work."
Ren placed Laxus on the other infirmary bed and then walked out, closing the door quietly.
Porlyusica looked between the comatose Makarov and the beaten Laxus. "You two," she huffed, "grandfather and grandson... you always, always cause me trouble! I hate humans!"
"Ren," Erza said, meeting him at the bottom of the stairs. The entire guild had gone silent, looking at him. "Although Laxus has been defeated, the Thunder God's Palace in the sky is still there. The crisis has not been resolved."
She looked up through the hole in the guild's roof. "The Thunder God's Palace is formed by 300 magic lacrima, all filled with lightning magic. And... Freed's runes are still on them. They have a life-link magic applied that reflects attacks back to the attacker."
"If I go all out," Erza said, her voice grim, "I can destroy about 200 at once... but the backlash from that many... I don't know if I'd survive. And the other 100 would still detonate."
"No need," Ren said, his voice calm. "Just leave all of that to me."
"All to you?! Ren, those are 300 lightning lacrima!" Erza said, grabbing his arm. "They have Body Link Magic on them! Even if you have that Limitless Cursed Technique for defense, 300 simultaneous attacks is too many! The backlash will kill you!"
Having watched the battle between Ren and Jellal the entire time, Erza was very familiar with Ren's Limitless Cursed Technique ability. Ten or twenty magic attacks might not be a big deal for Ren, but 300 magic attacks, all at once... that was too many.
"It's fine!" Ren smiled, his confidence reassuring.
Ren went up to the second-floor terrace of the Guild, accompanied by all the Guild members. They all wanted to see how Ren would deal with the Thunder God's Palace.
Whoosh!!
Ren's body, reverting to his Gojo Satoru form, instantly moved to the center of the sky above Magnolia Town, floating in the air.
"Teleportation?!"
"He's flying?!"
Most of them had never seen Ren in this state before and didn't quite understand the power of this form. However, just teleportation and flight alone were already quite extraordinary.
Ren, floating in the sky, high above his guildmates, brought his hands together.
"Cursed Technique Reversal! Maximum Output... Blue!!"
A gigantic, swirling blue-black sphere formed in the sky. It grew, and grew, until it was the size of a building, a massive, silent vortex of pure, impossible gravity. The clouds above began to warp, pulled into its orbit.
Ren controlled the Blue Sphere to fly rapidly next to the ring of 300 lightning lacrima.
As the Thunder God's Palace lacrima touched the Blue Sphere's area of effect, they were ripped from the sky. The holy light of the Body Link Magic flashed, but it was devoured before it could even reflect. The lacrima themselves, filled with city-destroying power, were stretched, crushed, and devoured by the Blue Sphere.
Ren raised his arm and opened his palm. As his body rotated in the sky, the Maximum Output: Blue also quickly rotated with him, like a greedy, cosmic snake, precisely devouring each and every lightning lacrima.
In an instant... the Thunder God's Palace, which could have destroyed the entire city, completely vanished.
The crisis of urban destruction was thoroughly, and silently, resolved.