Ed Goes All Out

Violent magic power erupted from the mark on Ed's hand.

Pale golden patterns spread from around his eyes, forming the shape of eyeshadow.

Patterns also appeared on both arms, starting from the backs of his hands and forming circles before extending up his arms like ribbons to Ed's chest. The two trails converged there, forming an egg-sized circular golden pattern that gave off a golden glow.

"What kind of form is that? It looks so strong!" Natsu felt the aura radiating from Ed's body and felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, cold all over. "I heard Mira mention it before. Ed calls this form Sage Mode. It can greatly increase the power of magic, and it seems he has never used it at full strength." Erza spoke with a solemn expression.

"As expected of Ed... This pressure... Tch... I'm still not strong enough..." Like Natsu, Gray felt utterly uncomfortable under the pressure of Ed's imposing presence. Nearby, Lucy and Happy clung to each other, unable to say a word. S-So scary...

"Sorry. It's my first time activating it at full power, so I'm a little too excited to control myself." Ed reined in his aura, then looked up at Lullaby's massive body and grinned.

"If possible, I'd like to handle this thing myself." Ed slowly spoke as he stood before the others.

"Then we should do it together—" Before Erza could finish, Ed shouted, "Anyway, I'm going in first! Sage Art! Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"

Violent orange flames instantly ignited the entire sky. Lullaby dodged aside, but its massive body became a burden instead. Half of it was engulfed in blazing fire, the high-temperature flames burning across its deadwood-like body.

"Ahhh!!" Lullaby let out a huge roar and frantically slapped at the flames covering its body.

"Seriously? If you're taken out that easily, I'll be pretty disappointed." Ed looked somewhat deflated at Lullaby's pathetic state. "Whatever. Since I've already started, I'll use you as a punching bag."

"Damn it! Damn it! You cursed wizard! I'll devour your soul!" Enraged by Ed's words, Lullaby's little remaining reason was overwhelmed. It forcibly gathered magic power, and a huge magic circle appeared in the air again. This time, it was aimed directly at the faintly golden-glowing human before it. "Die!!"

The massive magical cannon blasted toward Ed. He raised both hands before him and overlapped them. The cannon vanished as if swallowed by something, and then a dazzling light erupted in the distance, followed by Hibiki and smoke soaring into the sky. When the smoke cleared, another small mountaintop had vanished in the distance.

"Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder," Ed said calmly.

"A punching bag should have the resolve of a punching bag. Try this, then—Sage Art: Ultra-Great Ball Rasengan!" Another Ed suddenly split off from his body. The two Eds stacked their four hands together and raised them overhead, rapidly forming a golden sphere of light that kept expanding as they lifted it.

Once their arms were fully extended above their heads, a massive Rasengan had formed. The thought-form Ed returned to Ed's body, and the Rasengan's rapid rotation stirred the surrounding air, creating streams of wind that swirled around him.

Erza and the others watched as Ed effortlessly suppressed Lullaby and were all stunned. Looking at the technique in his hand, whose power could only be terrifying, they could not help swallowing nervously.

Seeing that the magical cannon had been useless, Lullaby prepared to unleash its strongest magic, Death Requiem. As it began gathering magic power, Ed chuckled. "Heh, you're still resisting? I remember your true body is a flute, which is why you can play that requiem. So if I..."

Ed vanished from where he stood and appeared directly before Lullaby's chin. The Great Ball Rasengan in his hand had already slammed into Lullaby's chest. "If I just break you in half, can you still play it?"

The Great Ball Rasengan exploded the instant it struck. The tremendous tearing force and impact shattered Lullaby in two from the chest. Even after breaking Lullaby apart, its power did not diminish. It became a swirling storm of magic power that slammed into the mountaintop behind it. Amid familiar flashes, Hibiki, and smoke, another mountaintop near Rokuba Town disappeared.

As he watched both halves of Lullaby struggle incessantly despite being split apart, Ed considered it briefly before creating another thought-form. The two of them assumed positions similar to before.

"Is he going to use that move again? Just breaking that thing in half doesn't seem very effective. Why don't we join in?" Natsu asked Gray and Erza as he watched Ed's movements.

"Don't rush. Since Ed said to leave it to him, he must be confident. Let's watch for now." Erza was also curious as she watched the two Eds.

"Don't worry, this time is different." Ed heard Natsu and the others but answered without looking back.

Suddenly, a piercing screech rang out. Three huge blade-like projections extended from the Rasengan in Ed's hand and spun at high speed. The Rasengan changed from gold to an even brighter color until it became a blinding white sphere. Combined with the extended magic blades, it looked incomparably dangerous.

"Sage Art: Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!" Ed hurled the fully formed Rasenshuriken at Lullaby's still-struggling lower half. Spinning at high speed, the Rasenshuriken drove the surrounding airflow into a miniature tornado as it shot toward Lullaby.

Boom!

The Rasenshuriken exploded the instant it struck, forming a massive, ever-expanding hemispherical energy storm field. Violent magic power crazily sliced apart everything within its range, reducing it to Crush like a meat grinder.

When the white light faded, Lullaby's lower half, along with everything around it, had been subjected to a complete Crush. Looking at the semicircular crater in the distance, not only Erza and the others but even the guild masters were shocked. "Makarov, that boy of yours is something else..." "Ahahaha... Indeed..."

Seeing half of its body completely gone, Lullaby panicked and tried to flee using its two arms. Watching the once imposing Lullaby now make such an ugly display, Ed was speechless.

"What a sorry sight, Lullaby. Come to think of it, I liked that defiant look you had earlier better. Can you go back to that?" Lullaby completely ignored him and only wanted to escape, and Ed's gaze turned cold.

"How ugly. The next move will finish you. Though now that I think about it, this is actually a perfect situation for that technique." Ed raised his head to look at the dark clouds Lullaby had gathered when it appeared, then slowly lifted his right hand.

A dazzling flash of lightning suddenly formed a thin beam that shot from Ed's hand straight into the heavens. The entire bank of dark clouds instantly crackled with lightning and thunder. Guided by Ed's magic power, a phantom beast made entirely of lightning appeared in the sky and let out a thunderous roar.

"Disappear with the thunder." Ed fiercely swung down his right hand, which was connected to the lightning in the sky. "Sage Art! Lightning Release: Thunder Kirin!"