Raizel was also well aware that this enemy commander was indeed an Erza, though in this world, she should properly be called Erza Knightwalker.
Erza nodded in agreement with Wendy's cautious observation.
"She does resemble me greatly. Perhaps she is simply the version of me that exists in this world."
"But it seems that this world's Erza is an enemy of 'Fairy Tail'..." Lucy said timidly, shivering at the thought of fighting her.
Raizel raised a hand, signaling for everyone not to worry too much
"That's perfectly normal. Didn't Mystogan say that everything is the opposite here? Who knows, maybe one of us is the big villain in this world. Although she looks similar, she ultimately isn't our Erza."
"Right! Even though they look exactly alike, they are two completely different people. Just like Jellal and Mystogan—their personalities are completely different, aren't they?" Lucy nodded vigorously, fully agreeing with Raizel's perspective.
Currently, back in Earthland, Jellal hadn't been cleared of suspicion among the guild members yet and was still carrying the heavy blame for past events.
Raizel hadn't revealed the full truth to them either, preferring to keep it a secret to prevent anyone from accidentally leaking sensitive information.
"They even called 'Fairy Tail' a Dark Guild? That's really strange," Gray muttered, rubbing his temples as he felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of bizarre information.
Raizel snapped his fingers with a confident smirk.
"It's simple: we'll just ask them directly. I left a magical tracking mark on that tree earlier before it teleported."
"That's so like you, Raizel!" Natsu exclaimed excitedly, his spirits lifting.
...
Meanwhile, in a desolate desert far away, the massive blue tree suddenly sprouted from the barren ground with a heavy thud.
"You brats, we've successfully finished moving!" an older voice called out.
"Finally... we're saved," another sighed in profound relief.
The Edolas guild members were scattered everywhere across the room—some lying down dazed, others collapsed completely on the floor in all sorts of awkward, dizzy positions.
"See, Juvia-chan? Wearing more clothes was useful after all, wasn't it?" Edolas Gray mumbled.
His face was currently bright red because Edolas Juvia was accidentally sitting directly on top of him.
However, he couldn't actually feel anything... since he was bundled up in so many thick layers of heavy winter coats.
"I suppose I'll thank you for cushioning my fall this time," Juvia replied dismissively.
Across the room, another familiar argument broke out.
"Stupid woman! It's all because you were dragging your feet that we almost didn't make it!" Edolas Lucy yelled, glaring fiercely at Levy.
"Shut up! If you're so great, you try operating the teleportation console next time!" Edolas Levy fired back just as fiercely.
"It's just teleportation! Why did it have to shake so much?!" Edolas Lucy complained, dusting off her tough black bodysuit.
"Serves you right! Who told you to get so fat?!" Levy mocked.
"What did you say?! Stupid woman!" Lucy bristled, stepping forward with her fists raised.
"What, you want to fight about it?!" Levy challenged, standing her ground.
In this world, Edolas Lucy and Edolas Levy were exactly like Natsu and Gray from Earthland—constantly bickering every single day and finding petty reasons to argue even when there were none.
...
"This is the place."
Following the magical tracking mark, Raizel and the Earthland group also teleported directly to the new location of Edolas's "Fairy Tail."
"We actually teleported to a vast desert..." Lucy remarked, looking around at the endless sand dunes surrounding the blue tree.
Gray couldn't help but add, "Should we just admit that this world's 'Fairy Tail' has incredibly advanced technology? They can even teleport an entire guild building across the continent in an instant."
"Alright, let's go inside and take a look. Let's see exactly what this world's version of 'Fairy Tail' is really like," Raizel stated.
After saying this, he took the lead and walked forward toward the heavy wooden doors.
As soon as Raizel pushed open the main door, the noisy guild fell dead silent.
Everyone, including the still-arguing Edolas Lucy and Edolas Levy, turned sharply to look at the entrance.
"Who are you people?" someone demanded cautiously.
But as soon as they spotted the figures standing behind Raizel, the members' tone did a complete 180-degree turn into sheer panic.
"Erza!!!"
"It's the Fairy Hunter!!"
"Run! Start the teleportation sequence again!"
"Are you crazy?! She's already inside! How can we activate it now?!"
Then, their terror began to mix with deep confusion as they noticed the rest of the group.
"Wait... there's another Lucy..."
"And Gray... Natsu... and... Exceeds?!"
"Why are the royal Exceeds here with the Fairy Hunter?!" Edolas Jet and Edolas Droy cried out, looking utterly terrified at the bizarre assembly.
"Can someone please tell me what is actually going on here???"
"Natsu! Why are you hanging around with Erza?! And who the hell is that other 'Lucy'?!" Edolas Lucy demanded.
Though she was secretly relieved to see a Natsu alive and seemingly unharmed, she wisely kept her distance due to Erza's terrifying presence.
"None of our Edolas counterparts are in this room," Earthland Kagura observed astutely, stepping forward to stand beside Raizel.
With a quick glance, she could easily match everyone in the room to their Earthland counterparts, even noticing an older, fully-grown Edolas Wendy.
However, she saw no sign of an Edolas Kagura or Raizel.
"Maybe they're just temporarily absent. Their Natsu isn't here in the room right now either," Raizel replied quietly, scanning the crowd.
"It really does look exactly like all our guild members..." Earthland Gray muttered, having been meticulously scanning the interior since they entered.
Suddenly, his eyes locked onto his heavily-layered counterpart.
"But why are you wearing so many damn clothes?! I feel hot and sweaty just looking at you!" Gray pointed angrily at his bundled-up Edolas self.
"See? I told you everyone would hate you dressed like a cowardly marshmallow," Edolas Juvia turned and said disdainfully to her shivering companion.
"T-That's not what you said earlier, Juvia-chan..." Edolas Gray whimpered, continuously wiping his fearful tears.
"Hey! Stop crying! Don't use my face to do pathetic things like that!" Earthland Gray yelled, hardly able to bear watching his counterpart act so timidly.
"What are you still doing standing over there with them?! Get over here already, Natsu!" Edolas Lucy barked, looking at Earthland Natsu with deep exasperation.
"Everyone, please calm down! Could you just listen to our explanation for a moment?" Raizel clapped his hands loudly to capture the entire room's attention.
"First, tell us why you're traveling with the Exceed!" an Edolas member demanded defensively.
"Hmm, they really do look exactly like the royal Exceed," Edolas Mira observed.
She stepped forward bravely and crouched down to closely inspect Happy and Carla.
"No... it's not just that they look alike... they are Exceeds, right?" Edolas Macao and Edolas Wakaba commented nervously from the back.
"Big sister is right! They just happen to look exactly like Exceeds, nothing more!" Edolas Elfman insisted softly from nearby.
Unlike his loud Earthland self, he meekly agreed that whatever his tough sister said must be correct.
"Is that so?" Raizel calmly took charge of the chaotic situation, finding a comfortable seat near the bar while the Edolas Fairy Tail members kept observing the newcomers with suspicion.
Edolas Lucy, in particular, kept glancing warily between Earthland Lucy and Earthland Natsu.
"This world's Lucy-san is really scary..." Earthland Wendy whispered, massive sweatdrops forming on her forehead as she watched the fierce woman.
"To answer your question, they are indeed Exceeds, but you can simply treat them as ordinary, talking cats," Raizel explained nonchalantly to the guild.
"Exceeds?!" The Edolas guild members gasped, quietly backing away several steps in deep reverence and fear.
"Then why should we treat them as ordinary cats?" Edolas Mira, however, wasn't afraid and pressed Raizel for concrete answers.
"Because they don't come from Extalia up above, so they aren't your world's so-called 'divine' Exceeds," Raizel explained. He pointed at Happy, then at Carla.
"This blue one was found as an egg and hatched by our Natsu, who raised him from birth. And this white one has followed our Wendy since childhood."
"Wendy???" Edolas Macao blinked.
"Now that you mention it, that little girl really does look exactly like our Wendy when she was little..." Edolas Wakaba gasped.
Raizel's words had finally made the members notice the striking age difference.
Raizel originally hadn't wanted to interact deeply with this world's members to avoid confusion, which was exactly why he had initially asked everyone to hide their Earthland guild marks under bandages.
"Then... what about her?" Edolas Lucy asked, pointing a serious, trembling finger directly at Earthland Erza.
"Do you truly think she resembles the Erza that you know?" Raizel asked in return, gesturing to his armored companion.
Edolas Lucy rubbed her chin and pondered the question for a long while, squinting at Erza.
"Hmm... in terms of physical appearance, they are virtually identical. But her aura seems somewhat different—she's lacking a bit of that overwhelming, bloodthirsty killer intent..."
Both versions of Erza shared identical appearances and naturally radiated the intimidating presence of a remarkably powerful individual, but the Erza standing peacefully before them had a much more refined and restrained edge.
"She is indeed Erza," Raizel confirmed with a gentle smile, "but her full name is Erza Belserion."