Chapter 497: What Kind of Monster is This?!
Rumble—
Accompanied by the roar of thunder, a bolt of lightning pierced through the thick cloud of dust and shot directly in front of Acnologia.
"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Roaring Thunder!"
The lightning morphed back into Laxus. Wreathed in crackling electricity, he clasped his hands high above his head, gathering a massive surge of lightning, and smashed them down onto the Black Dragon.
"Fairy Sword!"
Erza poured all her magic power into her armor, causing it to emit a radiant glow that quickly concentrated into her blade. She stomped the ground, launching herself at Acnologia, and swung the expensive, guild-named sword forward with all her might.
BOOM!
Mirajane kicked off the ground with enough force to shatter the earth beneath her feet, using the recoil to rocket forward. The flames scattered on the ground floated up, trailing her movements until they gathered around her clenched fist.
She channeled her absolute maximum magic power, forming a deep purple halo around her fist, while the demonic flames compressed tightly on the outside. By the time she reached Acnologia, the strike was fully charged. The deep purple glow was bottomless, and the demonic flames clinging to it felt bone-chilling just to look at. She slammed her full-powered punch directly into the beast.
"Hah!"
Sorano pushed her magic to the limit. The angel beside her absorbed the massive influx of power, swelling in size until it towered over a dozen meters tall. Its body began to emit a faint glow that rapidly concentrated into its massive fists.
"Hercules Angel!"
At Sorano's command, the colossal angel charged at Acnologia and unleashed a devastating double-punch.
Cana didn't bother drawing her Magic Cards. Instead, she sprinted directly in front of Acnologia and raised her right fist. A bright white light enveloped her hand, growing blindingly intense as she poured every drop of her magic into it.
"Crash!"
With all her magic focused into her fist, Cana slammed it into Acnologia, the destructive white light instantly covering the area around the impact.
Simultaneously, Freed, Bickslow, Evergreen, Juvia, Elfman, Lisanna, Levy, Simon, and Kagura all unleashed their absolute strongest attacks against the Black Dragon.
KABOOM! KABOOM! KABOOM!!!
Every single attack struck Acnologia almost simultaneously. Countless blinding flashes of magic erupted across the Dragon's body. Deafening explosions filled the air, and a massive cloud of smoke and dust instantly engulfed the gargantuan beast.
Thump... thump... thump...
Amidst the blinding light and thick smoke, Acnologia's colossal body was actually forced to stagger backward a few steps.
Without even waiting to confirm the results of their barrage, the Fairy Tail mages hastily dragged their magically exhausted bodies backward, retreating as fast as they could.
They had to move, because they could feel a terrifying surge of magic power erupting from right behind them.
"Ice-Make: Sword of Damocles!" x4
A bone-chilling wave of cold swept forward, instantly freezing the airborne dust and smoke into heavy ice crystals that plummeted to the ground, revealing Acnologia, who was still trying to steady itself.
The mages who had retreated looked toward the source of the freezing air. Standing far in the back were Ur, Ultear, Gray, and Lyon. All four were in the exact same stance—half-crouched, right fist struck against their left palm—with magic circles spinning wildly beneath them, constantly releasing waves of freezing air.
"HRAAAH!"
They roared in unison, pushing their magic output to its absolute peak. Even from a distance, the others could feel the biting cold, and tiny ice crystals began dancing in the air around them.
Suddenly, a massive, ice-blue greatsword materialized high in the sky. It expanded at a terrifying rate, instantly growing into a colossal weapon hundreds of meters wide and over a dozen kilometers long. Its tip glinted with a razor-sharp, freezing light.
"FALL!"
The four Ice-Make mages shouted together. The gigantic ice sword plummeted from the sky, hurtling straight down toward Acnologia.
KABOOM!!!
Just as Acnologia managed to stabilize its footing, the tip of the colossal ice sword slammed directly into its back.
The Black Dragon was crushed face-first into the ground. The bedrock instantly shattered, massive fissures spreading rapidly outward. A split second later, the earth in a two-to-three-kilometer radius completely caved in, dragging Acnologia down with it.
Only the towering upper half of the giant ice sword remained visible above the massive dust cloud that swallowed the area.
The catastrophic shockwave generated by the impact blasted outward like a hurricane, carrying tons of dirt and debris. The Fairy Tail mages, already drained of their magic, were blown off their feet, many sent tumbling across the ground. Ur, Ultear, Gray, and Lyon also collapsed from exhaustion.
"Awesome!"
Natsu cheered loudly from the dirt, not even bothering to wipe the dust off his face.
The others quickly steadied themselves, looking toward the massive dust cloud with hopeful expectation, desperate to see what kind of damage they had managed to inflict.
"No. That level of attack isn't enough," a stern voice shattered their hopes.
Suddenly, an overwhelming, suffocating pressure washed over them. Gildarts, his body surging with immense magic power, stepped forward with a terrifying aura. The sheer pressure forced the surrounding guild members to unconsciously take a step back.
ROAAAAAAR!!!
Before anyone could ask questions, a deafening, furious roar erupted from within the dust cloud. A catastrophic gale blew outward in all directions, completely dispersing the smoke.
The others, having just picked themselves up, were nearly blown back down. They braced themselves and stared nervously ahead.
What they saw next was pure nightmare fuel.
Acnologia, bearing the crushing weight of the dozen-kilometer-long ice sword on its back, simply flapped its wings. It casually twisted its neck and swiped a single claw at the colossal blade.
The gigantic ice construct instantly cracked from the point of impact. The fractures violently spider-webbed upward until the entire dozen-kilometer-long sword shattered into millions of pieces. The magically-crafted ice dissolved into ambient ether before it even hit the ground.
A few sharp-eyed mages noticed a large white scuff mark on Acnologia's back where the sword had initially struck. However, despite the apocalyptic weight and force of the falling blade, it hadn't managed to pierce a single scale!
The realization drained the blood from their faces. Just what kind of monster was this?!
BOOM!!!
At that exact moment, Gildarts stomped the ground. The earth in a several-dozen-meter radius completely disintegrated. Using the explosive recoil, he launched himself forward, arriving directly in front of Acnologia just as the Dragon turned its head back around.
Gildarts dropped into a heavy stance, pooling an oceanic amount of magic into his right fist. It manifested as a blindingly bright white halo of destructive energy that caused the very air to vibrate violently.
"Crushing Evil, Spreading the Truth: Empyrean!!!"
Gildarts slammed his fully-charged, ultimate strike directly into Acnologia's stomach.
The blinding white light instantly expanded, engulfing a massive radius and swallowing the majority of Acnologia's colossal body.
"HRAAAH!"
Gildarts roared, pushing his magic beyond its limits. The ground beneath him fractured and gave way as the sheer volume of magic transformed into a colossal pillar of white light. The beam forcefully lifted Acnologia off the ground, blasting the Black Dragon diagonally into the sky.
Pushed by the pillar of light, Acnologia was launched over a dozen kilometers away before finally plummeting into the distant ocean.
The white pillar continued its trajectory unhindered, piercing into the cloud cover, vaporizing the clouds in that entire sector, and shooting out into the upper atmosphere.
"So strong!" Natsu gaped in awe, staring at Gildarts.
Even from this distance, Natsu could feel exactly how terrifying that magic was. It was vastly more powerful and intense than the aura Gildarts had shown him during their S-Class trial.
"As expected of the old man! He's incredible! That attack must have actually done something, right?" Gray panted, staring hopefully at the distant ocean where Acnologia had splashed down.
The others nodded vigorously, looking toward the sea with renewed hope.
"No. Our attacks did absolutely nothing. Whether it was the initial barrage, our combined ice sword, or even Gildarts's ultimate strike... none of it left a scratch on that thing," Ur stated, her expression unimaginably grim.
She had followed Noah and Gildarts's advice, going completely all out and combining her power with her daughter and students to forge that colossal ice sword. Not only was it massive, but they had hyper-compressed the ice with magic to maximize its hardness and destructive force. Yet, based on her own magical feedback, she knew the blade hadn't dealt any real damage.
"She's right. Our attacks were useless," Gildarts confirmed, walking back toward the group.
He was drenched in cold sweat, his face pale—a clear sign that he had practically emptied his massive magical reserves.
"What?! How is that possible?! All those powerful attacks didn't do anything?!" Natsu yelled in utter disbelief.
The others stared at Gildarts, equally unwilling to accept it. They had hit it with multiple Dragon Slayer Secret Arts, a twelve-kilometer-long falling ice sword, and Gildarts's absolute strongest Crash Magic. Some attacks were specifically tailored to slay dragons, while others were just pure, unadulterated destructive force. How could none of it work?!
"I wouldn't say they did absolutely nothing, but whatever minor damage it took is completely negligible to a beast like that. Didn't you notice? The moment your magic struck its body, it completely lost its properties. Even the Dragon Slayer Magic," Noah explained calmly, analyzing the situation.
Noah had been watching like a hawk. He noticed that the moment any spell made contact with Acnologia's scales, it simply fizzled out and lost its intended magical effect.
"Gildarts only managed to launch it that far purely because he used an overwhelming volume of raw magic to physically push it. His Crash attribute didn't shatter a single scale. The only reason the giant ice sword did some damage was because after the tip lost its magical properties upon contact, the sheer, non-magical physical mass of the remaining ice crashed down onto it. That blunt force trauma was probably the most damaging hit of the entire barrage.
"But for a Dragon with unfathomably thick scales—especially a monster like Acnologia—that's practically a mosquito bite," Noah concluded.
Hearing Noah's analysis, Gildarts nodded with a grimace. He had felt it too; his Crash Magic had completely failed to activate upon contact. It looked flashy, blasting the Dragon miles away, but all he had really done was physically push it.
"How is that possible?! None of that worked?! Just what kind of monster is this thing?!"
When Gildarts confirmed Noah's terrifying analysis, the faces of every Fairy Tail mage turned ash-grey.
They had just poured every last drop of their magic into an all-out, coordinated assault, and they hadn't even managed to break the beast's defense.
Now they finally understood why Noah had insisted they only had one chance to attack. Because even if they dumped all their power into a singular strike, it wouldn't even pierce its armor! Once they exhausted their magic, they were utterly defenseless. A second attack was impossible.
If they couldn't even scratch its scales, how were they supposed to fight it?
Ultear and the others turned to look at Noah. It all made perfect, terrifying sense now. No wonder he had gone to such extreme lengths to secretly prepare that massive barrier around Tenrou Island beforehand.
Without that preparation, unless you possessed strength on par with Gildarts—who only barely managed to escape with his life—encountering Acnologia was an absolute, unavoidable death sentence. And they all knew they were nowhere near Gildarts's level.
Against Acnologia, they were completely hopeless.
~~~
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