Chapter 305: A Little Rougher
"W-what?! How is this possible?!"
Jura's face turned pale. When he'd first seen Minerva's spell vanish, he'd assumed she'd misfired; now he realized Ren had somehow erased it.
The towering Wizard Saint, a man known for his unshakable composure and absolute mastery over the earth itself, felt a cold drop of sweat trace its way down his rugged jawline. His keen eyes, honed by decades of grueling magical combat, locked onto the young Mage from Fairy Tail. Ren stood there looking completely unbothered, his posture relaxed and his magical aura infuriatingly calm. It defied all logic. Magic of that caliber didn't just 'vanish' into thin air without a massive clash of opposing forces.
Whoosh!
Ren thrust a hand casually toward Jura, his palm open and fingers slightly curled. Jura's expression instantly twisted in visceral alarm. Every instinct in the veteran Mage's body screamed that being caught by whatever invisible force was gathering in that palm would be disastrous. Minerva's humiliating fate mere moments ago had just proven that dodging was not merely an option—it was a necessity for survival.
"Universal Pull!"
[Akarin's Note: "Banishing Shift" in the raw is a translation artifact for "Bansho Ten'in" (Universal Pull), a gravity-manipulation technique from Naruto used by the Deva Path of Pain.]
The very moment the words left Ren's lips, the fundamental laws of physics within the arena simply ceased to apply. The gravitational pull shifted violently. Jura's massive, muscular body, which usually stood as immovable as a mountain peak, was suddenly yanked forward. He hurtled helplessly through the air toward Ren, completely unable to find purchase on the rapidly blurring ground beneath his boots.
"Iron Rock Wall!!!"
Jura roared, slamming his thick hands together as he channeled his immense magic power. The cobblestone streets of the artificial city violently ruptured. Massive, thick walls of solid, enchanted stone erupted from the ground with a deafening rumble, forcefully wedging themselves between his airborne body and Ren, successfully severing the terrifying gravitational pull.
Jura crashed heavily onto the ruined street, gasping for breath, his heart pounding like a war drum against his ribs. He had barely managed to block it.
Whoosh!
But before Jura could even attempt to steady his trembling legs and regain his footing, a shadow fell over him. Ren already stood gracefully atop the newly formed stone wall, looking down at the Wizard Saint with an expression of mild, detached curiosity.
"Not good!" Jura gasped, his eyes widening in sheer terror.
"Iron Rock Mountain!!"
At the very first glimpse of Ren looming above him, Jura abandoned all thoughts of offense and unleashed his absolute strongest defensive magic. The ground beneath the artificial city groaned in protest as tectonic plates seemingly shifted. A titanic, craggy peak of enchanted bedrock materialized instantly above him, forming a dome as thick and impenetrable as a war-god's absolute shield. The sheer density of the magic power infused into the stone made the air around it vibrate.
Ren didn't flinch. He didn't even drop into a combat stance. He merely hovered slightly above the apex of the earthen fortress, his gaze piercing through the stone to the desperate man below. He spoke calmly, his voice echoing with an unnatural, divine resonance:
"Shinra Tensei!!"
[Akarin's Note: "Shinra Tensei" (Almighty Push), another Deva Path ability from Naruto that repels all matter and magic with overwhelming force.]
BOOM——————!!!
A terrifying, invisible repulsive force exploded outward from Ren's center in a perfect, omnidirectional sphere. The very air shattered like glass. The earth convulsed violently, sending shockwaves rippling through the foundations of the Domus Flau arena itself.
Crack-crack-crack———!!
The war-god's mountain—Jura's ultimate, unbreakable defense—fractured from top to bottom in a matter of milliseconds. The incredibly dense, magically reinforced bedrock spider-webbed with massive fissures before it simply crumbled away, reduced to fine, powdery dust by the sheer, unadulterated kinetic pressure of the Almighty Push.
"Gyaaaahhhh!!"
Jura screamed in raw agony as the invisible wave of force slammed into him. The impact felt as though he had been struck head-on by a speeding magical dreadnought. His robust body was violently crushed against the arena floor, the cobblestones shattering beneath his weight.
The expanding shockwave didn't stop there. It pulverized the surrounding artificial buildings, uprooting trees and obliterating statues. Within mere moments, every single structure for hundreds of meters in every direction lay in absolute, flattened ruins. A massive, perfectly circular crater was carved into the heart of the Grand Magic Games' battlefield.
The sheer, unprecedented scale of the devastation stunned the hundreds of thousands of spectators in the Domus Flau crowd. Up in the commentator's booth, Chapati Lola dropped his microphone, his jaw hanging completely slack. Every single viewer watching the magical broadcast across the Kingdom of Fiore fell into a stunned, breathless silence.
Moments later, the choking clouds of dust and debris finally began to subside, carried away by the gentle afternoon wind.
A massive crater yawned at the epicenter of the destruction. There, at the very bottom, lay Jura Neekis. His signature Lamia Scale robes were shredded into bloody rags, his muscular body battered and heavily bloodied. His breathing was shallow and ragged—he was clearly completely out of the fight, stripped of all combat capability.
Yet, despite being so grievously hurt, the resilient Wizard Saint miraculously remained conscious. His eyes, though unfocused and filled with pain, stared up at the sky.
"B… brilliant!" Jura wheezed, coughing up a small splatter of blood. He looked toward Ren, utterly convinced of his defeat. Ren had fought three top-tier masters simultaneously—Kagura, Minerva, and himself—and had effortlessly crushed them without breaking a single sweat. As Jura lay there, he genuinely wondered if even the legendary Four Gods of Ishgar could match that kind of suffocating, insurmountable might.
"As expected… of you, Ren-dono! I… completely lose…"
Thud!
Before the honorable Wizard Saint could even finish his sentence of concession, a sickening, wet sound echoed across the silent crater. A sharp, gleaming blade violently punched through Jura's abdomen from behind, the blood-soaked tip protruding from his stomach.
[W-what——?!?!] Chapati Lola finally found his voice, screaming into the lacrima microphone in absolute horror.
"Mister Jura!!"
Up in the stands, every single member of Lamia Scale—Lyon, Sherria, Toby, and Yuka—paled drastically. They rushed to the edge of the balcony, their eyes wide with disbelief and rage.
Jura gasped, his eyes bulging as he painfully turned his head over his shoulder in sheer disbelief. Standing right behind him, her face twisted into a cruel, sadistic smile, was Minerva Orland. In her hands, she tightly gripped Kagura's legendary, unsheathed sword, Archenemy, the blade dripping with the Wizard Saint's blood.
"M-Minerva…" Jura choked out, the betrayal stinging far worse than the physical wound itself.
Minerva chuckled, a dark, velvety sound that sent shivers down the spines of the audience. "You've already lost, Jura-dono. You were completely useless. Rather than let that Fairy Tail street rat reap the points for defeating you, I'll happily take them for myself."
With a vicious, unfeeling yank, she ripped the heavy blade free from his flesh!
"Gah!"
Jura collapsed entirely, his massive body hitting the dirt as his consciousness finally faded into the comforting embrace of darkness.
[Min… Minerva defeats Jura—five points!!] The magical scoreboards updated with a loud, mechanical chime, snapping the audience out of their stupor.
[Hold on! Wait a minute, folks!] Chapati Lola shouted, hastily reading the incoming magical data. [Minerva didn't just down Jura—the system indicates she also ambushed Kagura of Mermaid Heel while everyone's attention was entirely focused on Ren's devastating attack! That's another five points!]
[That's ten points in one swoop! Sabertooth has just secured ten massive points in the blink of an eye!]
All eyes immediately shot to the giant magical lacrima screens displaying the updated tournament standings.
[Combined Rankings]
Sabertooth – 61P
Fairy Tail – 56P
Mermaid Heel – 43P (eliminated)
Lamia Scale – 39P (eliminated)
Blue Pegasus – 37P (eliminated)
Quatro Cerberus – 22P (eliminated)
[Unbelievable!! Sabertooth turns it around in the final moments! They now lead the Grand Magic Games by five points!]
…
Despite the dramatic shift in the rankings, the massive stands of the Domus Flau fell eerily silent. Ordinarily, such a sudden, massive reversal would have brought deafening cheers and roaring applause from the excited crowd. Yet, Minerva's point-grab felt utterly despicable. Kill-stealing from a downed opponent and cowardly back-stabbing a temporary teammate when their guard was down was not the behavior of a champion. It was the behavior of a venomous snake.
"Bwahaha!! Did you see that?!" Minerva threw her head back, her manic laughter echoing across the ruined cityscape. "Ren! It doesn't matter how unbelievably strong you are! In the end, you're still beneath my heel! The victor is the one who writes history! Sabertooth is supreme! Aha-ha-ha!!"
Ren stood amidst the rubble, his hands casually tucked into his pockets. He let out a soft, tired sigh.
"Stop cackling—it's incredibly grating to the ears," Ren said, his voice flat and completely devoid of the panic or anger Minerva desperately wanted to see.
"What did you say?!" Minerva's face instantly darkened, her laughter cutting off sharply. She gripped Archenemy tighter, glaring daggers at the young man.
"I said your voice is annoying," Ren repeated calmly, his blue eyes locking onto hers with chilling indifference. "And as for your little scoreboard... points mean absolutely nothing to me. We're only participating in this circus because, during our seven missing years, Fairy Tail endured insults, mockery, and pressure beyond measure. We are here to clear our guild's name, not to play your petty point-scoring games."
He took a slow step forward, his aura remaining perfectly serene. "If I truly wished for it, I could win the entire Grand Magic Games with ease in a matter of seconds. But doing so from the very start... that would just feel like bullying the weak."
"Hah! Utter nonsense!" Minerva spat, her spatial magic flaring to life around her hands. "You're just making excuses because I outsmarted you! You're bleeding out points and you know it!"
She simply didn't believe a single word he said. To her, power was absolute, and no one would willingly hold back if they could dominate.
"Of course you don't believe me," Ren said, shaking his head with a slight, pitying smile. "A frog resting at the bottom of a dark well knows absolutely nothing of the great, boundless ocean above it. The fundamental gulf between our levels of existence is completely beyond your narrow grasp."
Ren regarded her coldly, the playful demeanor from earlier completely stripped away.
"Enough of your arrogant bravado!" Minerva shrieked, her composure finally fracturing under his dismissive gaze. "After unleashing a colossal battle and using that terrifying repulsive spell, your mana reserves must be nearly completely spent! You're running on fumes! It's time to finish you and cement Sabertooth's absolute victory! Come forth!!"
At her sharp, commanding shout, the air around the ruined plaza shimmered. Four distinct figures stepped out from the shadows of the remaining alleyways, surrounding Ren on all sides. It was Sabertooth's remaining elite members: Sting Eucliffe, Rogue Cheney, Rufus Lore, and Orga Nanagear.
[What is this?!] Chapati Lola cried out, leaning so far over his desk he nearly fell out of the booth. [Sabertooth's top five strongest members stand united on the battlefield! Are they seriously ganging up on Fairy Tail's Ren in a five-on-one assault?!]
"Hey! That's completely unfair! Sabertooth is playing dirty!" Macao Conbolt shouted in absolute fury, shaking his fist from the Fairy Tail viewing area.
"Yeah! Can't your so-called 'strongest guild' take a fair, one-on-one fight?!" Wakaba Mine echoed, chewing angrily on his cigar.
"So this is the mighty Sabertooth's true style?! Cowardice and ganging up?!" Romeo yelled, gripping the balcony railing tightly.
"Will Ren really be alright?" Laki asked, her hands clasped together in nervous prayer.
The members of the Seven Year Group seethed with a mixture of intense anger and mounting worry. In their minds, Ren's previous spells had been completely colossal, bending space and gravity itself. The mana cost to perform such miraculous feats had to be truly immense. Facing five fresh, S-Class level Mages while exhausted was a death sentence.
However, a starkly different atmosphere surrounded the returning members. The Tenrou Group raged intensely at Minerva's shameless treachery toward Jura, but they feared absolutely nothing for Ren's safety.
Natsu just grinned, cracking his knuckles. Erza crossed her arms, a knowing smirk playing on her lips. They all knew the terrifying truth: Ren hadn't even begun to show his true, unrestrained strength. Once he finally did, these five pompous Sabertooth members would fall in an absolute instant.
Down in the arena, the Lightning God Slayer crossed his massive arms. "Everything proceeds exactly according to the Miss's brilliant plan," Orga said, though a bead of sweat rolled down his temple.
From afar, he had watched Ren fight like a true, unholy monster. The Miss, Kagura, and the Wizard Saint Jura—three of the strongest Mages in the entire tournament—had combined their might and hadn't even managed to put a single scratch on his clothes. Facing him directly was terrifying.
Minerva sneered, pointing the stolen sword at Ren. "Surrender now, Fairy Tail dog, and I will graciously spare yourself the pain of a brutal beating. You cannot win against all five of us."
She still deeply feared the destructive capabilities he had shown; if she could force him into a psychological submission and avoid a direct battle, it would be for the best.
Ren didn't immediately answer. Instead, he slowly lifted his chin, his eyes glancing upward toward the sky. He stared directly at the blazing, golden midday sun hanging at its absolute zenith.
"Mm… the time is ripe," Ren murmured, a strange, profound warmth beginning to radiate from his very skin.
"Time for what?" Sting asked, his brow furrowing.
The five members of Sabertooth exchanged baffled, deeply uneasy looks. The air around Ren was rapidly changing, growing impossibly hot and heavy.
"Time to end this tedious match," Ren stated, his voice suddenly deepening, carrying an overwhelming, kingly resonance that commanded absolute obedience. "Apologies to you all—things are about to get a little rougher!"
Ren spread his arms wide, fully embracing the harsh sunlight.
"Full Body Take Over: Escanor!"
[Akarin's Note: "Escanor" is a crossover reference to the Lion's Sin of Pride from The Seven Deadly Sins, whose power, 'Sunshine', peaks at High Noon, granting him invincible strength.]
As the commanding words left his lips, a blinding, golden light erupted from his form. Muscle violently exploded across his frame, tearing the fabric of his shirt to shreds. His height surged upward, his physical presence expanding exponentially.
In the blink of an eye, the calm, slender Mage completely vanished, and Ren transformed into a towering, impossibly muscular hulk of pure, absolute power, radiating heat like a miniature sun brought down to earth.
[Akarin Note:
Your Support Keeps This Story Alive!
If you're enjoying this novel, your support means the world to me. Simple actions like leaving a review, power stone, comment, or sharing the story let me know you're out there. It's the greatest motivation for me to keep updating until the very end and ensures this project continues.
For those who wish to support me more directly, you can join my Patreon at [patreon.com/AkarinTL]. As a thank-you, you'll receive access to 50 advanced chapters.
I hope I am still worthy of your support. My life truly depends on this... haha, I know I'm so shameless.]