Accompanied by a flash of lightning, the Thunder God Tribe disappeared from the stage.
Realizing what had happened, Natsu shouted at the departing Laxus, "Stop! Don't run away!" With flames wrapping around his fists, Natsu stomped the ground, using the recoil to launch himself directly at Laxus.
"Don't you remember being defeated by Laxus before?" Warren exclaimed in surprise as he saw Natsu charging toward Laxus.
"That was when I was a kid!" Natsu replied indifferently.
"That was last year!!"
"I was still a brat last year!"
"Well, calm down for now." Watching Natsu rush toward him, Laxus' expression didn't change in the slightest.
Instead, he casually spoke those words.
Suddenly, without anyone noticing, a bolt of lightning appeared and struck Natsu directly.
In a flash, Natsu's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground unconscious.
"If you want to return them to normal, come and defeat us. There are four of us, while you have nearly a hundred. The time limit is three hours—if you exceed that, they'll turn to sand. The battle zone is the entire Magnolia. Find us, and the fight begins. Don't rush—enjoy this little afterparty of the festival." With a cold sneer, Laxus finished speaking and then vanished in a flash of lightning.
"Di...disappeared...?"
"Are they planning to play hide-and-seek in the city?"
"That reckless fool, Laxus."
"Bastard!! Hurry up and bring my sisters back to normal!"
Following Elfman's lead, most of the guild members rushed out one after another, leaving the guild hall empty in no time.
"Damn it." Noel gritted his teeth.
Although he couldn't remember why this Laxus was acting this way, he could clearly feel the overwhelming hostility radiating from him.
It was obvious that Laxus was targeting him directly.
Realizing this, Noel immediately dashed toward the guild's entrance.
"That bastard... watch me, watch me stop you."
"That damn Laxus, I have to defeat him!"
Not just Noel—Makarov and Natsu, now fully aware of the situation, also charged angrily toward the entrance.
But as they reached the doorway, a loud "bang" echoed through the air.
The three of them—Makarov, Noel, and Natsu—slammed headfirst into an invisible wall, leaving them dazed and dizzy.
After their collision, glowing text suddenly appeared in midair above the entrance.
Rules: Those over eighty years old and statues cannot enter or exit.
"Is this... a magic barrier? That guy never intended to let me participate from the start?"
After crashing into the barrier, Makarov gradually calmed down.
His gaze swept across the guild hall.
"Laxus... even if he's a hopeless fool, there's no denying his strength. Is there anyone here who can defeat him?"
In the guild, only a handful of people had the ability to fight Laxus.
Aside from Makarov himself, both Mystogan and Gildarts were not in Magnolia.
If it were Noel, there would be a higher chance of victory—but even putting aside his memory loss, for some unknown reason, he too was trapped within the barrier and unable to fight.
Erza and Mirajane had already been turned to stone, so...
"Reedus, do you know where Porlyusica lives in the eastern forest?"
After a moment of contemplation, Makarov turned his gaze helplessly toward a young man hiding behind a pillar.
The small stone pillar was completely inadequate to conceal his conspicuously large belly.
"I know," Reedus said, trembling as he hid behind a stone pillar.
"Maybe she has medicine to cure petrification. Go and check." For Makarov, this was a desperate choice.
Right now, with no one outside capable of defeating Laxus, the only option was to find a way to restore the petrified girls.
That way, once Laxus lost his bargaining chips, whatever he was planning would be rendered useless.
After assigning Reedus the task, Makarov turned his gaze to Natsu, who was relentlessly ramming into the invisible wall, and Noel, who was squatting to the side, sulking and drawing circles on the ground.
"Natsu. Noel. Are you eighty years old? Or are you statues?"
"How the hell should I know?"
"...I don't remember, and besides, how would that even be possible?"
Noel was speechless.
Never mind Natsu, but he himself couldn't possibly be a statue.
As for his age, he was pretty sure he had just turned twenty.
At that moment, a floating magical text appeared once again in midair.
"Hmm? Fairy Tail civil war, mid-battle report? Jet vs. Droy vs. Alzack."
The information revealed by the text made Makarov's expression change instantly.
"Winner: Alzack. Jet and Droy are unable to continue fighting."
"Max vs. Warren. Winner: Warren."
"Wakaba vs. Macao. Battle begins."
Line after line of text filled Makarov with rage, his fury threatening to burn down the entire guild.
"Stop it! Stop this madness already, you brats!"
"I wanna jump in too! Can't this damn wall be broken?!" Natsu said impatiently, still oblivious to the gravity of the situation.
Noel stared blankly at the Characters floating in midair, his gaze filled with deep confusion.
These were names of people he didn't recognize—completely unfamiliar.
Yet, the anger and pain welling up from his chest were so real, so vivid.
Closing his eyes, Noel let himself feel the uncontrollable, surging emotions within him.
At the same time, his mind gradually calmed.
Even though he had lost his memories, that didn't mean his intelligence was gone as well.
Indeed, without his combat memories, Noel's fighting ability had inevitably declined somewhat.
However, for a mage of his level, battle was practically ingrained in his instincts.
Even if there was a decline, it wasn't significant.
The same applied to his magical knowledge—it wasn't something that simply vanished along with his lost memories.
Noel turned to Natsu, who was still stubbornly trying to break through.
He spoke, "Natsu, stop wasting your strength. This is a large-scale magic formation designed to trap those who step into its range. For anyone inside, the magic is absolute."
After explaining to Natsu, Noel shifted his gaze to Makarov.
"That man called Laxus—his goal is to use Freed's magic to force guild members into fighting each other, weakening the guild's combat strength as much as possible. After all, no matter how strong he is, he can't possibly take on nearly a hundred capable mages alone.
From the looks of it, he seems to want me to face him directly while the other three keep the guild members occupied. The current situation is this: if we don't defeat those four within three hours, all the petrified people will truly turn into sand."
"Laxus wouldn't actually do something like that!" Natsu suddenly interrupted.
"Yeah, he's an infuriating guy, but we're all part of the same guild! He's just trying to scare us!"
Noel shook his head and sighed with a troubled expression.
"Natsu, the problem is—we can't afford to take that gamble. I can feel it—the magic surrounding those girls is the real deal.
And… I don't think he's just joking."
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