"Thank goodness, Lisanna."
Holding her younger sister, Mirajane felt a sense of redemption as if she had regained something precious, nearly unable to hold back her tears.
The terror of that moment had made her truly believe she was about to lose her sister forever.
"Mira-nee..."
Lisanna was still trembling with lingering fear, her body shaking uncontrollably.
"It's over now." Marco spoke up to calm the frightened sisters, gradually soothing both Mirajane and Lisanna.
"That's right! What about Elfman?!"
With both sisters safe, they turned their attention to Elfman.
"Elfman..."
Seeing Elfman lying motionless on the ground, the sisters' faces filled with worry.
Had that powerful Beast King truly been subdued and successfully taken over by Elfman?
Marco remained quite calm, his thoughts still focused on that super-dimensional space magic "Anima."
This problem really needed to be solved quickly.
Although Mystogan was traveling around dealing with it, but in the end, Mystogan was just one person and he couldn't necessarily arrive in time every instance.
Like this time, he hadn't been able to prevent it.
"Don't worry, Elfman is fine now. It's just that he probably won't be able to use that Beast King soul skillfully for a while - he'll need some time to adapt." Marco spoke to ease Mirajane and Lisanna's anxious feelings.
The two girls' emotions were still very unstable now.
They were particularly sensitive and vulnerable - partly because Elfman remained unconscious, and partly because Lisanna had nearly met with disaster earlier.
It would be strange if they could remain emotionally stable under these circumstances.
"Marco, what was that thing just now?"
After confirming that Elfman was truly alright, Mirajane brought up the "magic vortex" from earlier.
That vortex that seemed capable of devouring everything had filled her with terror.
Without even thinking, if she had been in Lisanna's position, her performance wouldn't have been any better.
The result would certainly have been the same as everything else - being sucked into that magic vortex.
"It was truly terrifying..." Lisanna, who had actually been at the vortex's center, felt this even more deeply.
Her face showed lingering fear, knowing that she owed her survival entirely to Marco, as she had already lost all means to deal with the situation herself.
"That's magic from the parallel world Edolas. It's indeed very dangerous." Marco explained.
This wasn't his first time seeing it - he had been equally shocked when he saw it for the first time.
Even Makarov had been startled.
That was when they first met Mystogan.
"Edolas - is that Happy and Carla's world?"
When Marco mentioned the name "Edolas," both Mirajane and Lisanna reacted, as they were aware of this world's existence.
Happy and Carla were said to have come from that world, though Happy had no memory of it and Carla absolutely refused to discuss it.
After all, these "Exceeds" had arrived in egg form, so it was normal they wouldn't know.
They had learned about the existence of this "Edolas" world from Master Makarov.
"That's right, that Edolas."
Marco nodded, giving a definite answer, then began explaining this "Anima" magic to the sisters.
"How despicable! Those Edolas people!"
This wicked "Anima" magic was vehemently denounced by both Mirajane and Lisanna, who were clearly filled with righteous indignation.
"Edolas? What's Edolas?"
As Marco was speaking with Mirajane and Lisanna, Elfman finally stirred awake.
Listening groggily to their conversation, he voiced the confusion in his heart.
"Wait! Where's the Beast King?!"
Elfman didn't understand why Mira and Lisanna were discussing "Edolas," nor why Marco would appear here.
His mind was completely occupied with thoughts of the "Beast King."
"First check your Take Over Magic." Marco replied with a smile, reminding the thoroughly bewildered Elfman.
Being quite obedient, Elfman immediately began examining his magic.
The big guy then froze completely in shock.
"Did I actually succeed in the Take Over?!"
Elfman stood up, his face full of disbelief.
He couldn't believe that he had actually managed to take over the "Beast King"!
"But how did I succeed?" Elfman asked with a puzzled expression.
That "Beast King's" power had been terrifyingly strong.
After activating his Take Over Magic, he felt like he hadn't even begun to exert his influence before being knocked unconscious by the Beast King's magical energy.
Could he really have succeeded in taking over under those circumstances? Elfman found it impossible to comprehend.
"You failed. Marco helped you, otherwise you would have been taken over by the Beast King instead. You still can't control that Beast King properly, so don't use it recklessly - you might lose control again."
Following Marco's earlier reminder, Mirajane cautioned her younger brother Elfman, explaining everything that had just happened in detail to prevent the foolish boy from attempting to take over the "Beast King" again and potentially losing control completely.
"What?! Lisanna was almost turned into magical energy and sucked into another world?!"
Elfman wasn't particularly disappointed about failing to successfully take over the "Beast King" - he knew he had plenty of time to contend with it later.
What shocked and worried him was learning that his younger sister Lisanna had nearly been in grave danger.
"It's all my fault for being useless and failing to take over the Beast King properly..."
Elfman began taking responsibility, reasoning that Lisanna had entered the range of that terrifying magic because she was worried about him.
If not for her concern about his condition, she definitely wouldn't have rushed into that area.
"No, it's my fault for being too weak to defeat this monster. If I could have beaten it, I wouldn't have put you all through this hardship..."
Seeing Elfman accepting blame, Mirajane started finding fault with herself too.
She felt that if she had been strong enough to defeat the "Beast King" outright, none of the subsequent events would have occurred, and Lisanna wouldn't have felt compelled to come help out of concern for them.