(Thank you so much to 'Xiong Mao A!', 'Yun Qi Qing Gu', 'Long Tiani', 'Bishang Yanjing Jiushi Tianliang', 'Bing Yue Ying', 'Qiushui Qiuche', 'You Are My i', 'Xiao h Zhai', 'Tianming. Canyue', 'Qinxun Luopo', 'Especially Obsessed with Poi', 'Sing Zai', 'Rose Maiden Rose Maiden', and 'Blank's Soul' for the rewards!)
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"Whoosh—!"
Amid a piercing rush of air, Moglia turned into a bolt of lightning and shot forward, charging straight at Noah and Erza, who were kneeling on the ground.
"—!" Noah and Erza's expressions changed at the same time. They wanted to dodge, but Noah's injuries were far from light. Even getting to his feet would take quite some effort. There was simply no time.
Seeing Noah drenched in sweat as he forced himself through the pain and struggled to stand, Erza gritted her teeth, sprang up, and resolutely stepped in front of him. Raising the Knight Sword in her hand, she pointed it at the lightning bolt rushing toward them.
"Whoosh—!"
Just as Moglia, transformed into lightning, was about to reach Noah and Erza, another bolt of lightning suddenly flashed in from the side. With a sharp shriek through the air, it slammed fiercely into Moglia's lightning form.
"Boom—!"
As though an explosion had gone off, a violent shockwave burst from the two colliding lightning bolts and spread in every direction, kicking up thick dust and stray currents of electricity that wandered aimlessly back and forth.
"Get down!" Noah hurriedly pulled Erza, who was shielding him, over and pressed her down hard. Together, they fell flat against the ground.
The shockwave swept wildly over the heads of the young man and woman lying prone on the ground. The stray electric currents scattered in every direction and did not strike Noah or Erza, who had gotten down in time. Only the thick dust blew over them, covering their bodies.
No one knew how long passed before the shockwave, the rampaging currents, and the thick dust gradually faded away.
Noah and Erza slowly raised their heads from the ground and looked ahead.
Moglia, who had been filled with murderous intent moments ago, was now like a helpless chick. A strong hand had him by the throat and held him in midair. His legs kicked continuously, while his face gradually turned a dark purplish red.
The one holding Moglia by the neck in midair was Laxus, golden electric arcs flickering all over his body.
"Heh." Laxus first glanced at Noah and Erza lying some distance away, then turned his gaze toward the painfully struggling Moglia. He sneered, but his eyes grew colder and colder.
"Sorry for the trouble of taking care of my two little brats."
"You..." Moglia found it harder and harder to breathe, and even his chest began to hurt. Clutching at the hand around his neck, he spoke with difficulty.
"You... how could you..."
"Wondering how I was able to make a move?" A wild grin appeared on Laxus's face.
"You wanted to stop me? Shouldn't you have found a few more people with some weight behind them?"
Hearing that, Noah, Erza, and Moglia suddenly realized something. All three turned to look around them.
"Urgh..."
"Ugh..."
"Ah..."
Just as they had expected after hearing Laxus's words, the mages from Phantom Lord who had surrounded and attacked Laxus were now lying all over the ground. Smoke and faint sparks of electricity rose from their bodies as they let out scattered, weak groans. Clearly, none of them could get back up.
"You..." Moglia's eyes widened. His face was full of disbelief as he stared at the laughing Laxus.
These mages from this Phantom Lord branch were stronger than ordinary mages.
One or two such mages going up against Moglia would merely be asking for a beating. He could easily handle three or four, but if ten attacked at once, even Moglia would begin to struggle. If all thirty came at him together, even he would not dare claim that he could win.
Yet Laxus had won, and he did not even seem injured in the slightest!
Th-This... how was that possible?
Could it be that Laxus had been hiding his strength?
Did that not mean he was far stronger than Moglia?
But he was only fifteen, wasn't he?
At fifteen, he was already this much stronger?
What a terrifying person!
Moglia finally felt fear.
"So... so strong..." Erza stared blankly at the Phantom Lord mages groaning on the ground around them. The way she looked at Laxus had changed as well.
"Is this the Guild Master's grandson's true strength?"
Erza reckoned that if she faced Laxus now, she probably would not even be able to withstand a single move!
Laxus was simply too strong!
No wonder when Makarov announced the people carrying out the mission and mentioned that Laxus would be taking action too, all the mages in Fairy Tail had erupted in excitement and stopped worrying that anything would go wrong with this mission.
Were all the mages in Fairy Tail at this level?
Erza completely overturned her original impression of Fairy Tail and began to take Fairy Tail seriously.
Only Noah, clutching his injured left shoulder and arm, watched Laxus, whose body crackled with electricity, with an increasingly grave expression.
From the very beginning, Noah had sensed that Laxus's magic power was somewhat unusual, as though something was hidden within it.
Now, looking at the electric arcs flashing over Laxus's body, Noah could be certain that this lightning was completely different from the lightning Laxus had used earlier!
There had to be another power hidden inside Laxus!
And that power was incredibly strong!
It was precisely by relying on that power that Laxus had crushed Phantom Lord's mages in one stroke and instantly taken down Moglia!
Otherwise, based on the strength Laxus had displayed before, he would at most have been on the same level as Moglia.
Just what was hidden inside Laxus?
As Noah pondered inwardly, Laxus looked at Moglia's terrified face and gave a vicious grin.
"Then, you're next!"
"No... wait..."
Moglia had barely begun to beg for mercy when a violent current surged through the arm gripping his neck without the slightest mercy, pouring into his body and continuously shocking him.
"AAAAAH—!"
His scream echoed through the area.
"Thud!"
Before long, Moglia, his entire body charred black and smoking faintly, was thrown onto the ground by Laxus with his eyes rolled back. From the look of him, he was not only severely injured, but completely unconscious.
"What did I say?" Laxus curled his lip in disdain.
"I won't give you the chance to kneel and apologize!"
"Noah." On the other side, Erza helped Noah up.
"Can you still stand?"
"I'm alright..." Noah forced a bitter smile and struggled to his feet, but Erza still had to support him. Otherwise, he would definitely have fallen.
"After this, you should understand, right?" Laxus sneered as he walked over, looking at Noah's charred left shoulder and arm.
"Without strength, you can't do anything!"
Noah immediately fell silent.
Although Noah did not think Laxus was entirely right, his words were not completely wrong either.
At least in a situation like that, without strength, Noah had not even been qualified to join the fight. He could only be protected. At most, he could step forward to block an attack for someone and land a few unexpected but insignificant blows.
Without learning magic, trying to deal with mages was ultimately far too difficult.
Ordinary mages were one thing, but opponents on Moglia's level were another matter entirely.
"Grow stronger!" Laxus looked deeply at the younger brother before him.
"Only by becoming stronger can you do what you want to do, no matter what it is!"
The scene fell silent.
Before you continue