Dragoon

A low voice reached his ears from behind, a chill shooting straight to Jerome's crown. Such formidable stealth—he hadn't even noticed someone creeping up on his back.

Seeing through his magic's weakness so easily—who was this?!

Jerome twisted his shoulder and shoved backward, trying to force his sword free, but to his surprise, no one was there, and he stumbled into empty air.

By the time he reacted, a fist was already driving straight into his face.

Already off-balance, Jerome cried out in pain and toppled backward.

"Mediocre swordsmanship, pathetic hand-to-hand. Besides that sword, what else have you got, huh?"

"Oh~ right, you're pretty good-looking. But compared to me, you're still a ways off."

Noah kicked the Dark Sword from Jerome's grasp, then slammed another heavy boot into his nose, making Jerome's tears stream from the pain.

Just as Noah was about to put Jerome to sleep for a while, a sense of danger from behind made him dodge swiftly.

A barbed spear drove straight into the spot where he'd been standing.

Jerome wasn't alone after all. With Haomen's timely help, he rolled on the ground without dignity to get away from Noah, snatching back his Dark Sword along the way.

Watching the longsword flare with black magic, Noah felt a bit helpless. He'd seen with his own eyes how Jerome used that sword to corrode an entire stone wall into nothing.

With destructive power like that, he was still just scraping by in a Dark Magic Cult branch. How terrifying must the Cult's high-ranking priests be?

The waters of this world ran deep indeed.

Noah had no idea the two before him were Dark Magic priests themselves. He only knew that now that he was exposed, he couldn't take them both down with just hand-to-hand.

"How dare you ambush me, you despicable bastard!"

Jerome glared at Noah furiously. During the beating, he'd recognized the guild emblem on Noah's arm—that meddlesome "Fairy Tail."

"Even if I'm part of an evil dark cult, you're a member of a righteous guild! Can you really stoop to such dirty tricks against me?! You bastard!"

When Jerome said that, both Noah and Haomen froze.

Bro, seriously?

I'm dealing with a villain—do I need to follow some code of honor or something?

Are you freaking kidding me?

Noah couldn't hold back a laugh, but Haomen, as his colleague, managed to suppress his twitching mouth. At least when it came to being evil villains, he and Jerome saw eye to eye.

"Jerome, the priority is to capture this Fairy Tail mage and interrogate him thoroughly."

As a twisted freak who loved torture, Haomen had a cruel desire to brutally torment and kill anyone good-looking, male or female.

"Torture!"

Magic circles spread around Haomen as he gestured, and various terrifying instruments of pain appeared, each different in design but equally horrifying.

Seeing a tool called "Blast Pliers," Jerome subtly shifted his feet to put some distance between himself and his deranged colleague.

Even Noah, who'd kept his cool, couldn't help but break a cold sweat at the sight of some of those instruments. If he got caught, he'd be in for a world of hurt.

He should've bought a few defective magic tools from Doran while he had the chance.

Noah knew well that no matter how sharp his footwork, he couldn't escape unscathed from that barrage of torture devices—especially with Jerome watching like a hawk.

This world was, after all, a world of magic.

"Ah, I really overestimated myself."

Resigned, Noah sighed, then looked at Jerome and Haomen. "Either of you know Dragon Slayer magic?"

"Hmph, still spouting nonsense at a time like this!"

"Sugar, once I catch you, I'm gonna find a hundred guys to take care of you!"

Jerome and Haomen attacked Noah together.

"Then I'll take that as a no."

As a storm of instruments and dark sword-light came crashing down, Noah just smiled faintly. In his hand, a delicate dragon figurine no bigger than his palm had appeared.

To protect his own hide, Noah finally unleashed his trump card.

From the world of Edolas—centuries of human refinement in war magic weapons, the forbidden autonomous magic weapon—the "Dragoon"!

Created 400 years ago by the king of Edolas, who observed the chaotic world of Earth-land and modeled it after an incredibly fearsome existence, this was an absolute weapon of destruction.

Any magic except Dragon Slayer magic would have its damage greatly reduced against a Dragoon.

But if it encountered a Dragon Slayer mage, not only would the Dragoon fail to reduce damage, it would actually take double damage from Dragon Slayer magic.

In other words, Dragon Slayer magic was the absolute natural enemy of the Dragoon.

Even during Faust's most extreme era, he never thought of invading Earth-land, instead using Anima to secretly plunder magic power—all because he feared getting wiped out by a Dragon Slayer mage.

But right now, Noah was sure the two Dark Magic Cult idiots in front of him weren't Dragon Slayers.

"Dragoon, activate annihilation mode."

A black magic circle spread beneath Noah's feet, expanding and blocking all magic coming at him.

That tiny "figurine" now had all its parts spinning and assembling wildly, expanding the palm-sized model a thousandfold in an instant.

The humanoid dragon mecha gleamed with a silver-black metallic luster.

Its massive shadow engulfed Jerome and Haomen, stealing away all their light.

A pair of crimson eyes stared emotionlessly at the two ants on the ground, and a cold mechanical voice rang out.

"Identity confirmed: Second Prince Noah."

"Annihilation mode, activated."

A powerful suction force instantly swept away all the magic particles above Iron Furnace Ridge, converting them into a magic light cannon mixed with black particles in the Dragoon's mouth.

The ground shook, and even the air seemed to tremble. The entire valley was bathed in a ghastly white glow from the magic cannon's radiance.

Beneath the heaven-shaking, earth-shattering might of the magic, Jerome and Haomen could not muster even a shred of courage to resist or flee. All they felt was a drowning helplessness and the despair of falling into an abyss.

Silently and soundlessly, the annihilation cannon blasted a massive hole into the valley floor, and Jerome and Haomen were reduced to ashes under this terrifying attack.

To Noah's surprise, Jerome's "Dark Sword" was still there. Was dark magic really that tenacious? But judging by the battered and broken blade, it was probably no longer usable.

After shrinking and folding in cycles several times, the Dragoon returned to its palm-sized form, but the commotion it had caused could not be undone.

Noah knew that the annihilation cannon he had just fired would surely attract people from the surrounding area. He didn't want to expose the existence of the "Dragoon" just yet, but then he'd have to explain the destruction on the valley floor.

What a hassle. Maybe he should just cut and run.

Noah's attempt to slip away ultimately failed. From afar, he saw a lightly dressed girl flying toward him on a card.

Cana looked at the boy standing in contemplation in the valley and waved her hand vigorously. "Noah! Are you okay?!"