"If Mystogan knows so much about Edolas, does that mean he also came from there?" Ultear raised a pointed question, breaking the tension in the room.
"Yes. There's no point in hiding it from you all now," Mystogan replied softly.
As he spoke, he reached up and pulled down the heavy cloth robe and mask concealing his face.
"Jellal?!"
"Siegrain?!"
Gasps of confusion and alarm spread rapidly among the guild members as they stared at the painfully familiar face, their jaws dropping in utter disbelief.
Only Carla and Raizel remained calm; the Exceed had already met Mystogan previously through Raizel's connection and had communicated with him briefly.
'Even the strange tattoo over his right eye is exactly the same...' Erza thought, her eyes widening.
"My name is indeed Jellal, but I am not the Jellal Fernandes you know," Mystogan clarified.
"What does that mean?" Natsu demanded, leaning forward.
Mystogan explained patiently, "We look identical, but we are not twins, nor are we the same person. I am from the world of Edolas."
Raizel added to the explanation, "Essentially, in Edolas, there exist parallel counterparts of everyone here—people who look exactly like us, but their personalities, circumstances, or even magic might be the exact opposite."
"So, is there someone who looks just like me over there?!" Natsu pointed at himself excitedly, completely distracted from the danger.
"Theoretically, yes," Mystogan nodded.
"Oh??? I can't wait to see what kind of personality he has!" Natsu had already started fantasizing wildly, especially picturing the precious image of the 'other' Natsu knocking out Erza and Laxus with a single punch each!
"What exactly do you plan to do?" Carla frowned, looking sharply at Raizel and Mystogan.
Although Carla was hatched and raised in Earthland, Edolas was still her true homeland, and her Exceed people were still there.
If Raizel intended to completely destroy her hometown, especially based on the terrifying visions she had seen, she would absolutely not stand for it.
"I want to reverse Anima," Mystogan declared. "This way, all the remaining Magical Power in Edolas will be drained away and disappear entirely, and the stolen Magical Power absorbed from Earthland will naturally return here."
"What?!" Carla exclaimed in profound surprise.
"Is it impossible for a society to live without Magic Power?" Mystogan didn't answer her directly, but instead questioned Carla's fundamental assumption.
Seeing that Carla remained stubbornly silent, Mystogan continued, "There are millions of ordinary people right here in Ishgar without a drop of Magical Power, and they live perfectly fine, happy lives without it."
Raizel looked at Carla with determined, reassuring eyes and said, "Trust me, Carla. After the Magic Power disappears from that world, Mystogan can step up to lead Edolas to start a brand new life."
"But..." Mystogan couldn't quite bring himself to say the rest—if they reversed Anima and stripped his world of magic, he would become the greatest sinner in the history of Edolas.
He truly lacked the confidence for such a monumental burden.
"There will be a way forward," Raizel said, knowing exactly what heavy thoughts Mystogan was worried about.
"Alright," Mystogan finally nodded, half-convinced by their faith but still harboring his own heavy doubts.
"So, how do you actually plan to do it? From what I understand, anyone with internal Magical Power who directly enters Anima will instantly turn into a giant Magic Crystal," Carla pointed out.
"Happy and I can fly back through the portal carrying two people using our Aera wings, but that's the absolute maximum limit—only two people." Carla shared the crucial information she knew based on the precognitive visions she had seen.
Raizel shared the results of his earlier discussion with Mystogan.
"That is why we need Ultear's assistance. When Anima activates and pulls, the residual power will tear open temporary spatial rifts in the fabric of reality. Ultear's task is to use her Arc of Time to prolong the duration of these rifts as much as possible, keeping the portal stabilized so those who enter it willingly won't immediately turn into Magic Crystals."
"But there's one major problem—the remaining people who act as the bait will still become Magic Crystals," Ultear warned.
"Let us old-timers handle that burden," Makarov volunteered without hesitation.
"Not a bad suggestion. I'm not particularly interested in inter-dimensional travel matters anyway," Gildarts said with a lazy yawn, scratching his beard.
"I agree. We can handle holding the line," Ur nodded firmly.
"No way! I won't let you guys sacrifice yourselves!" Natsu completely rejected the proposal, jumping to his feet.
"Don't worry, Natsu. Turning into Magic Crystals isn't life-threatening," Raizel assured him calmly.
"It's somewhat like taking a very deep nap in stasis, especially for those with massive magical power—they'll be perfectly fine inside the crystal."
This was precisely why Raizel and Mystogan had carefully chosen this specific group to act as bait.
While Magnolia's ordinary residents wouldn't face immediate mortal danger by turning into Magic Crystals temporarily, their total innate magical power was minimal.
Even slight extraction or usage of those Magic Crystals by Edolas could potentially harm their frail bodies permanently.
It might not be instantly fatal, but it certainly wouldn't be good for their long-term health.
On the other hand, seasoned Mages with massively greater magical power would only lose some of their expendable magic energy.
Unless their magic reserves were completely and utterly depleted, they could simply recover by resting and taking magical herbs after returning to Earthland.
"But..." Natsu still couldn't accept his family turning into stone.
"We genuinely need you, Wendy, and Gajeel to go," Carla interjected seriously. "Dragon Slayer Mages possess a unique, ancient type of magical power that can actually restore people and objects turned into Magic Crystals back to their normal state. Moreover, because of that unique magic, Dragon Slayer Mages won't be affected by Anima's absorption."
Makarov immediately made the final decision. "It's settled then. Raizel, you'll lead Natsu and the strike team to Edolas. The rest of us will act as the anchor and just take a temporary nap in crystal form."
"Also, the bait location isn't here in town—it has to be near Gildarts's house?" Natsu asked, remembering the earlier detail.
"WHAT?? Why my place?!?" Gildarts blinked in confusion and outrage.
He didn't mind turning into a Magic Crystal for the guild, but he absolutely couldn't accept his beloved, remote house disappearing into the sky!
"Because only with your isolated house as the central absorption point can we ensure the rest of populated Magnolia remains completely unaffected by the blast radius," Mystogan apologized.
"Alright, we're fine with it!" Cana quickly made the executive decision for her father.
"..." Gildarts's mouth twitched violently.
What could he possibly do? It was his precious daughter's decision—it was completely impossible for him to refuse her now.
"Fine," Gildarts slumped his head in utter resignation, mourning his property.
"Great!" Everyone cheered excitedly, mostly because they weren't the ones suffering the real estate loss.
"By the way, take these. You must consume them right before we depart into the portal tomorrow morning," Mystogan instructed, placing a secure box containing the items on the center of the table.
"What's this candy?" Natsu curiously examined the small, pink round pills inside the transparent box.
Mystogan explained gravely: "These are called X-Balls. When we cross the dimensional threshold and reach Edolas, the atmosphere there will naturally render all Earthland Mages completely unable to use their internal magical power. These pills are a specialized medicine that will help temporarily lift the environmental restriction on your magic circuits."
He tightened his cloak. "Assemble at Gildarts's house at exactly 7 AM tomorrow. I'll take my leave now to make the final preparations."
After speaking, Mystogan pulled his heavy cloak back up over his face and swiftly left Raizel's house into the night.
Raizel carefully stored the items for now—he would definitely need to use the X-Balls too, as he required a vast amount of magical power to initiate his Take Over forms.
No one in the room doubted Mystogan's words or his strange pills.
Not only did they have Raizel and Carla's verbal guarantees, but Mystogan had also been a loyal Fairy Tail Guild member for several years and had heavily contributed from the shadows during the previous Phantom Lord guild war.
Moreover, the members of Fairy Tail had always viewed their comrades with absolute trust and treated each other with the greatest kindness.
Raizel looked around at everyone gathered in his spacious living room.
"In that case, let's all just stay here together tonight to be safe, and we can make do with sleeping in the living room. We'll give the actual bedrooms to the girls, and us guys can manage out here."
After officially finishing the serious tactical discussion, Makarov instantly reverted to being his usual, boisterous, unserious self again, throwing his arms up.
"Tonight... let's have a massive feast!"
He had previously spoken extensively with Porlyusica about Edolas and already knew the general situation of that world.
The military strength of Edolas wasn't particularly impressive to him, and since Raizel and the Dragon Slayers would be able to use their Magical Power thanks to the X-Balls, Makarov completely believed Raizel could handle the entire kingdom without any pressure at all.
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