— — — — — —
Meanwhile, in Earthland (Original World)
Mystogan felt his heart sink the moment he saw Kazuma tear straight through space.
"According to the energy trace…" he muttered, eyes widening. "Kazuma is heading to Edolas!"
"What happens if that guy gets to Edolas?!"
Unbidden, a memory surfaced. Back then, Kazuma had beaten Laxus senseless using nothing but raw physical strength.
So even if Kazuma arrived in Edolas and couldn't use magic, relying on sheer physical power alone made him a walking natural disaster.
"No, this is bad. I have to get back, now!"
Knowing Kazuma's personality, Mystogan's sense of dread skyrocketed. He jumped to his feet and hurriedly began preparing a way to return to Edolas.
Best-case scenario, he made it back before Kazuma wrecked the place, dragged him away, and fixed this mess.
"Edolas… please hold on. I'm coming back as fast as I can…"
He silently prayed while setting up a magic circle at top speed, desperately trying to return to Edolas.
...
At the same time, Edolas, on the floating island where the Exceeds lived—
"This place isn't bad," one of the dragons said casually. "Once we take it over, we should have the guild master mark this whole area as our territory."
"I don't really like it," the second dragon replied. "I prefer places near water. When we flew over earlier, I spotted a super clear pond. I can sleep there for decades."
"What kind of lousy dens do you two live in?" the third dragon scoffed. "Dragons obviously belong in caves. We were literally born there."
"Oh! And the cave has to be piled high with gold and treasure. That's what a proper dragon does. It's just we have to give them something to get gold, we can't plunder."
"That makes sense."
As the three massive dragons chatted, they descended onto the floating island. Their wings stirred up violent winds, and just landing caused the entire island to quake.
"D-d-d-DRAGONS!"
"Someone help! Dragons are invading!"
"F-fight! We… we have to fight!"
The Exceeds shouted bravely, but under the overwhelming dragon aura, their bodies refused to move.
Dragons were apex predators. Their presence alone suppressed other creatures completely.
Only beings of comparable strength, or those with hero-level willpower, could even think of standing against them.
So no matter how many ants you sent, they would never hurt a dragon. They didn't even qualify to stand in front of one.
"Invasion? Don't be ridiculous," one dragon snorted. "Do we really need to invade tiny things like you?"
"I could wipe this whole place out with a single breath."
"Enough chatter," another dragon interrupted. "Let's make this clear. From today onward, this is our territory. Behave yourselves and you get to live."
"If you don't behave…. Umm... oi, what if they don't listen? I kind of don't want to destroy this place."
"Same. I really like this floating island."
"Then just destroy them instead," the third dragon said flatly. "Control the strength of your breath a bit. Don't break the island."
"You two were really from the chaos faction. Way too evil," even their dragon friend complained. "How can you kill so casually? And that's against Fairy Rules. y'know."
"We should just show them our power and let these little cats willingly become our subordinates. They can work for us."
The dragons argued back and forth, completely ignoring the Exceeds creeping closer below.
Whether they were harmonizers, chaos-aligned, or neutral observers, dragons were dragons.
As demons liked to put it, they were an arrogant and conceited race. Unless it was another dragon or a sufficiently powerful individual, they didn't care about anything else.
Perched atop the three dragons, several little girls were peering down curiously.
"Kitty cats! Sugoi!" one of them exclaimed. "The cats here can fly and talk!"
"Midori, Midori, do you want to raise a kitty?" Sanae asked. "It feels like it'd suit you."
"Me, raising a kitty…" Midori tilted her head thoughtfully. "Hmm… that might actually be nice."
She looked down at the cats below, then touched her own ears. Cats really did seem gentle and cute.
Scenes like this were playing out all across Edolas.
Almost everywhere, dragons and people appeared out of nowhere.
The reports reached the royal capital quickly. Desperate pleas poured in, asking the kingdom to send troops to deal with the situation.
But the kingdom itself could barely handle its own problems.
"Hello, Your Majesty," a voice said lightly. "As of now, you are our prisoner."
Behemoth stood beside the king. The demon, whose power rivaled that of top-tier mages, was only a single step away.
At this distance, killing someone took nothing more than a thought.
"Erza!" the king shouted in disbelief. "You… you betrayed the kingdom?!"
He stared at her, utterly shocked. He never imagined Erza would betray them, much less escort assassins right into the palace.
"Your Majesty… I'm sorry," Erza said, guilt written all over her face. "But I did this for the sake of the kingdom."
"And we may have found a way to solve the crisis of magic disappearing!"
Her expression shifted from remorse to excitement as she pulled out several pieces of technology she had obtained elsewhere.
Even without magic, there were other ways to achieve power equivalent to it.
.
.
.