On the desolate dirt road leading to Luen Town, the wind carried fine sand and dust swirling around my feet.
Natsu shrank his neck and looked back from time to time to look at the invisible forest behind him, with lingering fear written all over his face.
"That Edolas's Erza... is simply a female devil!"
Natsu patted his chest sadly, his short cherry-colored hair trembling in the wind.
"What's going on with that gun in her hand? It can change into so many forms, it almost turned me into a hedgehog!"
Happy was flying in mid-air. Although it was a little hard to flap its wings, its mouth was not idle at all.
"Love! That look is so fierce, it feels a hundred times scarier than the guild's Erza!"
Lu Chongwei walked at the front with a steady pace.
He heard the man and cat behind him complaining and smiled.
"I think it's okay. Although his personality is a bit strong, his heroic spirit is quite interesting."
Lu Chongwei's tone was calm, without any sense of tension from the life-and-death chase he had just experienced.
When Happy heard this, he turned around in circles above Lu Chongwei's head as if he had discovered a new world.
"Oh--Zhongwei You actually think she is interesting?"
Happy's round cat eyes shine with the light of gossip.
"I knew you had a good relationship with Erza, but now you don't even let go of Erza in this world. Do you have any strange habits?"
Lu Chongwei stopped and glanced sideways at Happy.
"If you keep talking nonsense, I will hang you on the street lamp in the next town as a sign."
Happy was so frightened that he quickly covered his mouth and hid behind Natsu.
Natsu was not in the mood to joke. Looking at Lu Chongwei's calm look, he still felt a little aggrieved.
"Brother Zhongwei, when you faced her just now, why didn't you use any magic power at all?"
Natsu looked puzzled and reached out to scratch his hair.
"If you were a little more serious, that female devil would definitely not be your opponent, right?"
Lu Chongwei did not answer directly, but pointed to the faint outline of the town on the horizon ahead.
"When you get there, you'll understand why."
Several people quickened their pace, and before long, the full picture of Luen Town was revealed in front of them.
The town looks dilapidated, with most of the houses on both sides of the street being old and dilapidated, with their walls peeling off, revealing the dark masonry inside.
The most strange thing is that there are very few pedestrians here.
Occasionally, a few passers-by passed by, but they all walked quickly with their heads lowered, their eyes full of vigilance and uneasiness.
There was a depressing atmosphere in the air, like some kind of shackles on everyone's heart.
Edolas's Lucy was walking beside her. She looked at Natsu's curious look and snorted coldly.
"Don't look at it, people here have long been accustomed to this kind of life."
Lucy stretched out his hand and pulled the collar of his leather jacket, with a mocking tone in his tone.
"In Edolas, magic is a precious resource. All magic is concentrated in the royal capital and is directly controlled by the old man, the king."
Natsu was stunned. He looked at the empty streets in disbelief.
"Magic is concentrated? What about the others? Don't they live without magic?"
Lucy glanced at him, his eyes bitter.
"How can ordinary people afford magic? Now Edolas, it is even considered a crime to possess magic privately."
She pointed to the soldiers patrolling in the distance, who were holding standard magic weapons.
"Only the military and those with money are qualified to use magic. People like us can only hide like mice."
Natsu's eyes widened. This world view was simply unheard of for him.
In Earth-land, magic is the norm in life and is accessible to everyone the Miracle.
But here, magic has become the private property of the ruler.
Lu Chongwei stood on the street corner, looking at the lifeless townspeople, and snapped his fingers.
"Huh--"
A cluster of golden flames suddenly ignited at his fingertips.
This flame was not big, but it looked particularly dazzling in the dim street, and it exuded a warm breath.
Lucy's body suddenly froze in place.
She stared at the flame in Lu Chongwei's hand, her eyes almost popped out, and her whole figure seemed to have been immobilized.
"You... what are you doing!"
Lucy screamed and rushed over, covering Lu Chongwei's hand tightly.
Her palms were trembling, and her eyes were full of extreme fear.
"Are you crazy! Put it out! Do you want all the soldiers in the town to come and catch us?"
Lu Chongwei looked at her amusedly, and with a flick of his finger, the flames dissipated into the air.
"It's just a fire. Is it such a big reaction?"
Lucy gasped for air. She looked around to make sure no one noticed the movement here, then lowered her voice and shouted.
"What does it mean to make a fire! In Edolas, magic must be released through weapons or props!"
She pointed at Lu Chongwei's hands, her voice becoming a little sharp with excitement.
"No one can do magic with bare hands! What you just did is not something humans can do in their eyes!"
Several passers-by around him also stopped and looked at Lu Chongwei, their eyes full of awe and fear.
Some people even kneeled down on the ground subconsciously, muttering words like Exceed.
Natsu looked at this scene, feeling suddenly uneasy.
He tried to condense the magic power of Fire Dragon in his hand as usual.
But no matter how hard he tried, the power that was originally like magma in his body was now like a pool of stagnant water.
"What's going on... where's my fire?"
Natsu was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. He waved his arms desperately, but not even a smoke ring came out.
Happy also panicked. It flapped its wings vigorously and wanted to fly higher.
But it felt pressure falling on its body, and the frequency of its wings beating became slower and slower, and finally it fell directly from mid-air.
"Love! I can't fly either! My body is so heavy!"
Happy lay on Natsu's shoulder, crying with a sad face.
Wendy also tried to use Sky Magic, but her fingertips only lit up a weak light, which quickly went out.
"Magic... there is absolutely no magic in the air here."
Wendy's face turned pale, and she could feel that the power in her body was being forcibly suppressed by some kind of rule.
Lucy Looking at these panicked guys, I finally felt a little more balanced.
"Now you know how powerful it is, right? This is Edolas."
She turned to look at Lu Chongwei, her eyes full of deep doubts.
"Since they can't use it, why can you just now? Are you not human?"
Lu Chongwei patted the dust on his clothes, his tone remained calm.
"Of course I am a human being. But before I came here, I met something good."
He took out a small pocket pill from his arms and shook it in front of everyone.
"This is the pill Mystogan gave me. It's called X-Ball. After you take it, you can use magic freely in this world."