Crush! Hide! Grow Stronger!

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"Shiiing—!"

With a sharp tearing sound, Moglia transformed into a bolt of lightning and burst forth, charging straight toward Noah and Erza, who were kneeling on the ground.

"—!" Noah and Erza's expressions shifted simultaneously. They wanted to dodge, but Noah's injuries were far from light—even just getting up would take considerable time, far too slow.

Seeing Noah drenched in sweat, forcing himself to rise despite his wounds, Erza gritted her teeth, leaped up, and stood unflinchingly in front of him. She raised her Knight Sword, pointing it at the lightning bolt that was hurtling toward them.

"Shiiing—!"

Just as the lightning that was Moglia was about to reach Noah and Erza, another bolt of lightning suddenly flashed in from the side. With a sharp, piercing sound, it slammed violently into Moglia's lightning form.

"Boom—!"

Like an explosion, a fierce shockwave erupted from the collision of the two lightning bolts, expanding outward and sweeping through the surroundings. It kicked up thick dust and scattered strands of aimlessly wandering electric currents.

"Get down!" Noah quickly pulled Erza, who was shielding him, down to the ground with a firm push, pressing himself flat alongside her.

The raging shockwave swept over the heads of the man and woman lying prone, while the wandering currents dispersed to the sides, missing them entirely. Only the thick dust blew over, blanketing Noah and Erza's bodies.

After who knows how long, the shockwave, the rampaging currents, and the dense dust gradually faded.

Noah and Erza, still lying on the ground, slowly raised their heads and looked ahead.

There, Moglia—who moments ago had been brimming with murderous intent—now dangled like a helpless chick, his neck gripped by a powerful hand. He was held aloft, his feet kicking uselessly, his face slowly turning purple.

And the one holding Moglia by the neck, suspending him in midair, was Laxus, his body flickering with golden arcs of lightning.

"Heh." Laxus first glanced at Noah and Erza lying not far away, then turned his gaze to Moglia, who was struggling in agony. He let out a sneer, his eyes growing colder.

"Thanks for looking after my guild's two brats."

"You..." Moglia felt his breathing grow harder, his chest aching. Clutching at Laxus's hand around his neck, he forced out the words. "How... how are you..."

"Surprised I can fight?" Laxus wore a wild, unbridled grin. "If you want to stop me, shouldn't you have brought a few more heavy hitters?"

Hearing this, Noah, Erza, and Moglia suddenly realized something and turned to look around.

"Ugh..."

"Unh..."

"Ah..."

Just as they had suspected from Laxus's words, all around them, the mages from Phantom Lord who had been attacking Laxus moments ago were now lying on the ground, their bodies smoking faintly with traces of electric sparks. They let out a jumbled chorus of weak groans, clearly unable to get back up.

"You..." Moglia's eyes widened, staring at the laughing Laxus with utter disbelief.

These were Phantom Lord branch mages, still stronger than your average mage.

One or two against Moglia would be pure self-torture; three or four, he could handle easily. But ten at once would start to wear him down, and all thirty together—even Moglia wouldn't dare claim he could win.

Yet Laxus had won, and he didn't even seem to have taken a scratch!

How... how was that possible?

Had Laxus been hiding his strength all along?

Did that mean he was far stronger than Moglia?

But wasn't he only fifteen?

At fifteen, this much stronger than him?

What a terrifying person!

Moglia finally felt fear.

"S-so strong..." Erza stared blankly at the Phantom Lord mages groaning on the ground, her gaze toward Laxus shifting. "Is this the Guild Master's grandson's true strength?"

Erza estimated that if she faced Laxus now, she probably couldn't even last a single move!

Laxus was just too strong!

No wonder, when Makarov announced the mission's executor and mentioned that Laxus would be involved, the mages in Fairy Tail had erupted in commotion and stopped worrying about the mission going wrong.

Were all the mages in Fairy Tail on this level?

Erza completely overturned her previous impression of Fairy Tail and began to take the guild seriously.

Only Noah, clutching his injured left shoulder and arm, watched Laxus, whose body crackled with electric arcs, his expression growing increasingly grave.

From the start, Noah had sensed something unusual about Laxus's magic, as if it were hiding something.

Now, looking at the arcs flickering around Laxus, Noah was certain—these lightning bolts were completely different from the ones Laxus had used before!

Laxus definitely had another power hidden inside him!

And that power was incredibly strong!

It was precisely by relying on this power that Laxus crushed the mages of the Phantom Lord in one fell swoop and captured Moglia in an instant!

Otherwise, based on the strength Laxus had shown before, he was at most on the same level as Moglia.

What exactly was hidden inside Laxus's body?

While Noah was lost in thought, Laxus looked at Moglia, whose face was full of terror, and let out a sinister laugh.

"Now, it's your turn!"

"No... wait..."

Just as Moglia was about to beg for mercy, a violent surge of electricity flowed mercilessly from the arm gripping his neck into his body, continuously shocking him.

"Aaaaaah—!"

Screams echoed all around.

"Thud!"

Before long, Moglia, his body charred black and emitting faint smoke, was thrown to the ground by Laxus with his eyes rolled back. From the looks of it, he was not only severely injured but had also fallen completely unconscious.

"Didn't I say?" Laxus curled his lip in disdain.

"I wouldn't give you a chance to kneel and apologize!"

"Noah." On the other side, Erza helped Noah up.

"Can you still stand?"

"Barely..." Noah gave a wry smile, forcing himself to his feet, but he still needed Erza's support, or he would have collapsed.

"After this incident, you should understand, right?"

Laxus walked over, smirking coldly at Noah's charred left shoulder and arm.

"Without power, you can't do a thing!"

Noah fell silent.

Though Noah didn't think Laxus was right, his words weren't entirely wrong either.

At least, in a situation like that, without power, Noah didn't even qualify to step into the fight. He could only be protected, at most throwing himself forward to block a blow and land some unexpected but harmless attacks.

Without learning magic, going up against mages was still too much of a stretch.

Ordinary mages were manageable, but opponents on Moglia's level—that was another story.

"Get stronger!" Laxus stared deeply at his younger brother before him.

"Only by getting stronger can you do what you want to do, whatever that is!"

The scene fell into silence.