"Boom—!!"
The ground shattered beneath Su Yan's feet. His arms and fists were wreathed in swirling purple lightning—both compressed conqueror's haki and hardened armament haki—revealing the true depth of his strength in human form. As he lunged at Erza Knightwalker, he channeled this power through his body.
"Boom—-!!!"
An invisible shockwave rippled outward, shattering everything in its path.
"Waaahhh!!"
"Aaaghhh!!"
Countless Royal Army soldiers were sent flying, completely unable to resist. Towering palace walls crumbled, and the entire palace began to quake. Screams and the pounding of footsteps filled the corridors as people fled.
Erza Knightwalker gathered all her strength for a final strike.
"Crackle—!!!"
Red and black lightning flashed through the air. In another world, this would be a signature of two conqueror's haki wielders colliding, but here, it was conqueror's haki clashing against magic power.
Su Yan wasn't entirely certain why the energies looked similar, but he suspected Edolas's "lost" magic might share some kinship with his conqueror's aura.
"Boom—!!"
Erza Knightwalker's best efforts were overpowered by Su Yan's blow.
"Crack!!"
Her holy spear shattered inch by inch.
"M-my holy spear? It's…it's actually…"
"Gaaaaahhh!!"
She let out a final wail of pain before everything was swallowed by the shockwave. When the dust cleared, she lay on the ground some distance away, battered and motionless. Half of Edolas's grand palace had collapsed into rubble.
Su Yan glanced at the wreckage. He'd come to punish these people, but he hadn't even unleashed his full force before they were nearly annihilated.
Just then, Erza Knightwalker's fingers twitched. She struggled to push herself upright.
"Still conscious?" Su Yan noted.
"I can't lose…not for the sake of our world!" Erza rasped. "This world is dying. Once its magic power is depleted, it will perish!"
"I can't let anyone steal the magic we claimed. It belongs to Edolas!"
Her words darkened Su Yan's expression. "So you think the world ends if magic runs out? Then let this damned world perish."
He glared at her. "Taking innocent lives and converting them into energy—just to power street lamps in your precious royal capital. You call that justified?"
To Su Yan, Edolas's magic was just another energy resource, like oil. If one day oil vanished from Earth, society would fall into chaos, but people wouldn't simply die because of it. They'd adapt—find other ways to live.
"It's one thing to wage war for resources," he continued. "Either you kill me, or I kill you. But to pretend you're so noble while massacring innocents? That's disgusting."
He gave Erza Knightwalker a hard stare. "I've heard you deprive everyone outside the capital of magic. Are they all dead? They're still living, aren't they? Only your rotten dynasty will die without magic, not this entire world."
Erza Knightwalker's eyes went wide. She'd always been told that if Edolas lost its magic, everything would crumble. Yet it was true—people outside the capital, bereft of magic, still survived. Had they all been lied to?
Suddenly, a voice echoed through the palace ruins:
"The world will not perish! The dynasty will not perish!! Edolas shall soon have inexhaustible, eternal magic!!"
Erza Knightwalker gasped. "That voice…Your Majesty!"
Su Yan realized this must be the king who had ordered Magnolia Town turned into a magic crystal—the ruler of Edolas.
"Boom!!!"
A colossal figure appeared in the distance.
"Dorma Anim?!" Erza Knightwalker stared at it. "So His Majesty's using that, too… But it's a forbidden weapon. Once activated, it'll keep draining this world's magic power—even absorbing every last drop if no one stops it."
Before them loomed a giant mechanical Tyrannosaurus-like construct, its metal plating glinting menacingly.
"Tch," Su Yan muttered. "More and more bizarre."
He'd lived in this world for years, so a mechanical 'dragon' in a magic realm wasn't that surprising anymore.
High overhead, King Faust's voice boomed:
"Edolas is the strongest nation of all! All magic is rightfully ours, and anyone who opposes us must die!! We won't just absorb one Fairy Tail. We'll capture more guilds from Earthland and entire cities, too! Every last bit of magic will feed our great Edolas kingdom!!"