latelenovela Chapter 576 576
Chapter 576 576
"Good! Good! This is exactly how it should be!"
But not everyone had been intimidated by Gildarts and Marco.
A brown-haired man in green armor had light flashing in his eyes.
He looked from Marco to Gildarts, seemingly hesitating over which of the two he should challenge.
"Only opponents like these are worth fighting!"
Azuma's fighting spirit was boiling over, impossible to suppress any longer.
The strength displayed by Marco and Gildarts excited him.
Only warriors of this caliber could truly ignite his desire for battle.
As for Natsu, the "Salamander" who had just defeated Zancrow, Azuma didn't think much of him.
In his mind, Natsu had simply had the advantage of using the same flame element.
Zancrow had lost because his flame control was inferior.
There was nothing more to say.
But that level wasn't enough to excite Azuma.
After all, before the turnaround, Zancrow had been suppressing Natsu the whole time.
Only power like Marco's and Gildarts's—power that could casually destroy Rustyrose's magic, power that could leave Rustyrose writhing in agony with a single-finger attack—was enough to move Azuma.
He wasn't afraid of death.
He simply wanted to fight the strong!
"Azuma, this guy…"
Even the other members of the Seven Kin of Purgatory found Azuma's love of battle hard to understand.
Ultear, for one, was already having second thoughts.
"Marco really does deserve his reputation for defeating Jellal."
Although Ultear had always manipulated and influenced Jellal, she still recognized his strength.
The only reason she had been able to control him was because of time and circumstance.
If it had been the Jellal from his later days as one of the Ten Wizard Saints, she never would have been able to manipulate him.
Everything depended on the mental conditioning she had planted in him when he was young, along with the authority of Zeref's name, which allowed her to influence him from the shadows.
Because of that, Ultear had always been wary of Marco, the man capable of defeating Jellal.
What she hadn't expected was that Marco would be this strong—so strong that Rustyrose couldn't even block a single strike.
That was far beyond what she had imagined.
"Against enemies like this, we have to call the Master and Blenote!"
Ultear voiced her conclusion.
The enemy was too strong.
There was no way for them to win like this.
Why risk their lives pointlessly? They should call for backup immediately.
Although she was known as the leader of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, Ultear had her own schemes.
She had no intention of dying for Hades.
With Zeref finally within reach, she had her own goals to accomplish.
She wanted to control Zeref herself.
Because of that, the strength of Fairy Tail was actually good news for her.
She hoped Grimoire Heart and Fairy Tail would destroy each other.
Ideally, Marco, Gildarts, Makarov, Hades, and Bluenote would all die, leaving behind only a bunch of small fry.
At that point, the magical world would belong to her!
"Call for reinforcements. We can't win."
One of the Seven Kin, a man with the appearance of a goat, spoke up.
Beside him were a "chicken" and a "samurai dog," making the whole group look like some kind of animal squad.
They all agreed that reinforcements were necessary.
It was time for the Guild Master and Vice Guild Master to step in and solve the problem.
The "goat" stared fixedly at Fairy Tail's side—not at Marco or Gildarts, but directly at Lucy, his eyes filled with killing intent.
"You call them if you want! I'm going in first!"
Azuma had nothing to say about Ultear and the "goat" choosing to retreat, but he still charged forward on his own.
"I support Ultear too."
As Azuma rushed out, the remaining two also voiced their opinions.
A pink-haired little girl expressed support, while the other, a giant over two meters tall, muttered a bunch of incomprehensible nonsense.
Ultear didn't even bother listening.
She directly sent a signal to the Guild Master, firing a magical flare into the sky to call for support.
As for Rustyrose, writhing on the ground, and Zancrow, who had already been dragged away, there was no need to ask for their opinions.
They definitely needed reinforcements more than anyone.
Bzzz!
Calling for help didn't slow Azuma down in the slightest. As he ran, he unleashed his magic.
The surrounding trees seemed to come alive, and countless leaves and branches swept toward Fairy Tail like arrows and blades.
The sheer momentum alone was intimidating.
"Wood-based magic. On this island, that's home-field advantage."
Azuma's magic was clearly related to trees.
On Tenrou Island, where the forest was dense and the ecology primitive, that gave him a major advantage.
Fortunately, they were still near the shore, so he couldn't yet fully bring that advantage to bear.
"Ice-Make: Ice Wall!"
Gray stepped forward and immediately raised a wall of ice to block the incoming branches and leaves, beating everyone else to the move.
Natsu had already defeated one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory.
Even if he had looked a bit messy during the fight, he had still won in the end—and that alone was enough.
Naturally, Gray wasn't about to be outdone.
After all, they had already said that this clash against Grimoire Heart was practically an exam. Gray naturally wanted a chance to prove himself.
He couldn't let Natsu hog all the spotlight.
Boom boom boom!
Gray's ice wall exploded apart.
The cause was the magic fruit Azuma had condensed—those fruits were basically bombs, capable of unleashing astonishing destructive power.
"So it's not just simple wood magic."
Seeing that, Makarov came to a conclusion.
This was completely different from something like Lisanna's or Laki's wood modeling. It wasn't simple wood-element magic either.
The source of those magic bomb-fruits came from the magic rooted deep within the earth itself.
"This guy really can bring out more power on Tenrou Island."
Marco nodded.
Tenrou Island was rich in magic power.
Although it actively supplied Fairy Tail's mages, it clearly also boosted a magic like Azuma's.
The magic within the earth here really was more abundant than elsewhere.
"We absolutely can't let this guy get deeper onto the island. His magic might destroy Tenrou Island—or at the very least, bring down the Tenrou Tree."
Gildarts's expression turned serious. Other things were one matter, but if this guy actually managed to topple the Tenrou Tree, Fairy Tail would never live down the shame.
That absolutely could not be allowed to happen.
"Don't worry. Since we've already stopped them here, that kind of thing is impossible now. He won't get the chance."
Marco smiled, inwardly a little surprised that Gildarts had thought of that possibility.
That really had been one possible future.
If Marco hadn't discovered the enemy in advance, Azuma really might have had a chance to sneak into the island and bring down the Tenrou Tree.
On Tenrou Island, his magic was just too well-suited.
But now that they had been stopped at the shoreline, sneaking deeper into the island under Marco's, Gildarts's, and Makarov's watch was naturally impossible.
While Marco, Gildarts, and Makarov talked, Gray had already become entangled in battle with Azuma.
Azuma's magic really was powerful.
Controlling trees to attack was just the basics. The truly troublesome part was those ever-present explosive fruits.
For a while, Gray was being blasted around so badly by those bomb-fruits that he could hardly tell which way was up.
He had only managed to stay in the fight thanks to the protection of his Cygnus Cloth.
"Get Marco and Gildarts out here!"
Azuma roared, clearly dissatisfied with Gray as his opponent.