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The raging winds and blinding light gradually subsided, allowing the Royal Palace plaza, which had seemed earth-shattering just moments ago, to slowly return to calm.
If not for the ground having been riddled with holes, the Magic Combat Unit soldiers scattered all around with faint groans, and the massive crater at the center of the impact, no one would have believed that something so terrifying had just occurred.
But none of that was what Faust cared about anymore.
At that moment, the King of Edolas stared straight at the center of the enormous crater, his expression utterly blank.
There, at the center of that massive crater, was a patch of ground that had somehow remained completely unharmed.
Three people stood on that patch of ground.
And all three of them wore completely different expressions.
Noah, whose shoulders were tightly seized by Lili, looked as calm as an ancient well.
Lili, who tightly gripped Noah's shoulders, wore an expression of utter shock.
As for Erza, who still stood behind Noah with the Saint Stone Lance thrust toward him at its strongest power, she stared dead ahead. Her delicate face was slightly pale as she forced out each word.
"Im... pos... sible..."
Not only Erza, but even Lili and Faust could hardly believe that Noah had emerged completely unscathed from that terrifying attack, without even losing a single hair.
And the thing responsible for this was a shield.
A shield as black as obsidian, its front engraved with the head of a female monster crowned