Chapter 65: Of Course, We Run
Without another word, Erza spun on her heel, her scarlet hair fanning out. "We'll chase them immediately!"
She immediately jumped back onto the Magic Four-Wheeled Vehicle and, with a flick of her wrist, requipped the SE-plug—a magical device that amplified her magic output directly into the vehicle—onto her arm.
[Akarin's Note: The "SE-plug" (stands for "Soul-Écriture Plug") is a non-canon item from the anime, used by Erza to supercharge a vehicle with her own magic, massively increasing its speed.]
As Lucy scrambled into the back, she asked Erza in confusion, "Chase? We don't even know where they are! How can we chase them?"
Erza, her hands gripping the wheel, didn't look back. "With so many of them moving together, their target must be obvious. Someone in the next town must have seen them. We just need to get to Oshibana and ask around."
"By car?! No, no, no!" Natsu, who had been relatively quiet, suddenly roared in terror. "Can't we just run there?! If I ride in a car again, I'll die!! I'll really die this time!"
He immediately looked miserable, his face turning that familiar, sickly green. He had already been forced to ride in a car twice today, and it was the first time he had experienced two dark, motion-sick moments in one day. He didn't expect two to not be the limit; there would be a third.
"Less nonsense!" Ren said, already in the passenger seat.
Before Natsu could bolt, Ren reached back, grabbed the front of Natsu's vest, and unceremoniously kicked him into the back seat.
"Just pass out like you always do!"
"You... urrrp... traitor..." Natsu moaned, before slumping over, his head landing in Lucy's lap.
Whoosh!!
Erza floored the accelerator. The magic-infused engine roared like a dragon, and the Magic Four-Wheeled Vehicle performed a perfect, 180-degree drift, tearing up the dirt and rock.
"Ahhh!!"
Lucy, who hadn't been braced, shrieked as she was thrown forward by the G-force. She didn't sit properly and ended up tumbling head-over-heels, landing face-down, right on Ren's lap... with her butt pointing straight up in the air.
The carriage was silent for a moment, save for the roar of the engine and Natsu's quiet groans.
When Lucy realized the very specific, and very soft, place she was sitting, she immediately became shy, her entire body freezing.
A calm, thoughtful voice came from beneath her. "Your butt is so big. And soft."
Ren, whose face had been completely covered by Lucy's skirt and backside, rubbed his cheek as he re-emerged, feeling like he had just touched something extraordinary.
"Ahhh! This is sexual harassment!!" Lucy shrieked, her face a burning crimson. She scrambled back, pulling Natsu's unconscious head with her as a makeshift shield.
The Magic Four-Wheeled Vehicle, now glowing with the blue aura of Erza's infused magic, sped along the rocky path at an impossible speed. It soon arrived at the next major town, Oshibana.
As soon as they reached the town, they didn't even need to ask. The entire town was in a state of panic, and a massive crowd was gathered near the train station, blocked by a cordon of nervous-looking army soldiers.
"Have you heard? Something terrible happened at the train station!"
"What happened?"
"I heard a whole guild of ruffians took over the train! Just stormed it!"
"Robbed a train? Who did it?"
"I know! It was that Dark Guild from the mountains nearby! Eisenwald!"
"Eisenwald?!"
Lucy and Erza's expressions changed when they heard the name. This was the Dark Guild they were looking for.
"Let's go! To the train station!" Erza shouted, not even bothering to park. She drove the vehicle straight through a wooden barrier, stopping just short of the soldiers, who jumped back in alarm.
Upon arriving at the train station, they saw that it had been completely surrounded by the army. Many people were outside the cordon, constantly denouncing the atrocities of Eisenwald.
"A-a man with a large scythe... he just broke in with a whole group of people! They were all wearing that iron-cross symbol! They forced us all off the train!" a conductor was yelling, his face pale.
"I left my business tools on that train! They're more important than my wife!" another man wailed.
"Those people hijacked the train?! But... why?!" Lucy said, very confused as she took in the scene. "If it were robbing money or a ship, I could understand, but what's the point of robbing a train? A train can only run on the tracks! Even if they really hijacked it, there would be no benefit!"
She was right. If a train was robbed, as long as the army contacted the next station and had them switch the tracks, the train would be forced to stop.
Moreover, this matter had already caused such a stir that the army knew about it. They would surely set up defenses at the next station. It was a suicide mission.
"Are they in a hurry to do something?" Happy guessed, flying above the crowd.
Lucy, however, breathed a massive sigh of relief. "Well, the army has also taken action, so catching them is only a matter of time, right! We don't even need to go! Our job is done!"
This way, she wouldn't have to fight a terrifying Dark Guild full of assassins.
"No!" Erza's voice was sharp, cutting through Lucy's hopeful fantasy. "I have a very bad premonition. They are a Dark Guild, Ren, not idiots. And Erigor is certainly not a fool. So many people making such a showy, public move... they must be planning to do something extraordinary. And it's very, very likely related to that sealed magic, Lullaby."
Although there seemed to be no connection between them, her gut, which had never failed her on a mission, was screaming that this was bad.
"But... but the train has already departed for almost an hour," Lucy protested, her last hope fading. "Whatever they want to do, we won't be able to catch up, right? I mean... look." She pointed at the Magic Four-Wheeled Vehicle. "That thing is fast, but it's not that fast."
"..."
Erza fell silent. Lucy was right. The train's speed was very fast, much faster than their Magic Four-Wheeled Vehicle, even with her magic boosting it. Even if they drove at full speed now, as time passed, the distance would likely only grow.
Was she just going to give up like this? After coming all this way? She was unwilling.
Just then, Ren, who had been quiet, got out of the Magic Four-Wheeled Vehicle. He calmly walked past the soldiers, who were too intimidated to stop him, and stepped onto the railway.
"Ren, where are you going?" Lucy asked in confusion.
Ren stood in the middle of the train tracks, stretching his limbs as if preparing for a light jog. "Of course. I'm going to chase them."
When he'd first heard of Eisenwald, he felt it sounded familiar but couldn't recall it immediately. Only now, when he saw them hijack the train, did he finally remember this plot.
Lullaby. Also known as the mass-curse magic. The "Flute of Death."
The reason they hijacked the train was to use it to travel through the great valley, to get to the next major city: Clover Town. The location of the regular Guild Masters' meeting.
Then, they would use the power of Lullaby—broadcasting its deadly song—to curse and kill all the guild masters attending that meeting.
Recalling this plot and understanding their objective, Ren's heart was suddenly filled with a cold, quiet anger.
Although he hadn't been in Fairy Tail for too long, the old man, Makarov, had taken great care of him, treating him like his own child. Ren, being all alone in this new world, had also come to treat Makarov as a father.
Now, a group of scoundrels actually wanted to harm the old man's life. Regardless of whether these guys could succeed or not, just having the thought meant they deserved to die.
"Chase?!" Lucy yelped, running up to the tracks. "How can we chase them?! They've already been gone for over an hour, and they're on a train!"
A train was the fastest mode of transportation in the kingdom. In an hour, they should be over a hundred kilometers away by now.
Ren just smiled, a cold, dangerous glint in his eyes. "Of course, by running."
"Run?!"
Everyone—Lucy, Happy, and even Erza—was stunned when they heard this. If he had said flying, it would be understandable. But when he said running, they felt they couldn't comprehend it. How could a person possibly outrun a train?
"Full Take Over: Fushiguro Toji!"
Ren said nothing more and began his transformation.
His casual clothes dissolved, his gray trench coat turning into a simple, tight-fitting black T-shirt. His pants became baggy gray pants, a black cloth belt wrapped around his waist, and his feet were covered by a pair of simple, flat old-man shoes.
His muscles, which were already well-defined, subtly bulged, swelling with a dense, compressed power. His hair and facial features shifted, the scar appearing at the corner of his mouth.
This was Ren's form after taking over the man with the "Heavenly Restriction."
Ren's voice, now a slightly rough, deep-timbred, magnetic drawl, cut through the air. His eyes, now Toji's eyes, were like those of someone who thought he was the best in the world.
"Erza, you all can come slowly. Take the scenic route. I'll take care of Eisenwald."
"Ren!" Erza called out, a look of genuine worry on her face. "If you transform so early, how long can you last? Your magic..."
Erza was the person who knew Ren's magic best. After all, they had fought side-by-side. Ren's strength after transforming was incredibly, apocalyptically powerful.
But Ren had a very obvious, and very dangerous, weakness.
Not being durable enough.
Ren's magic consumption was terrifyingly high after transforming. In short, he exchanged extreme power for a large amount of magic consumption in a short period. Once he over-consumed, Ren could even fall into a coma. Six months ago, after the dragon fight, Ren had been in a coma for three full days.
"Don't worry!" Ren said, giving her a lazy, confident smile. "There's enough time!"
He thought to himself, 'Six months ago, I was at four stars. Now I'm nearly at six. My total magic power has increased by about ten times. Although the duration of this form won't be much longer, it's more than enough to deal with a bunch of second-rate Dark Guild fodder.'
Boom—!
Ren stomped hard on the ground. The force was not magical, but purely, brutally physical. The wooden railroad ties beneath his feet didn't just crack; they exploded into splinters, and the solid steel tracks bent under the force.
The next instant, before Lucy or Erza could even blink, Ren was gone.
He had already appeared as a tiny dot, hundreds of meters down the track.
[Akarin Note:
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