A New Life in Fairy Tail

”Alright, it’s about time I stepped in.”

Seeing that the moment had arrived, Noah prepared to make his move.

Hearing his words, everyone’s eyes instantly darted toward him.

Noah’s feet left the ground, his body effortlessly floating into the air. Once he was suspended mid-air, he clapped his hands together. A blinding golden light erupted from beneath his feet, expanding outward at breakneck speed.

In the blink of an eye, a massive magical barrier fully enveloped the entirety of Magnolia.

Holding his stance, a torrential flood of golden magic power exploded from Noah’s body. The surging energy violently churned and gathered around him, rapidly manifesting into a colossal, several-hundred-meter-tall Golden Giant.

While the Golden Giant lacked intricate facial features, its sheer, towering silhouette was more than enough to strike absolute terror into the hearts of anyone looking at it.

BOOM!

The Golden Giant planted its massive feet into the ocean behind the Fairy Tail guildhall. The impact instantly kicked up towering, dozens-of-meters-high tidal waves that violently crashed against Noah’s newly formed barrier, unleashing a deafening roar.

The suffocating magical pressure radiating from the Golden Giant crushed the surrounding air, generating gale-force winds that blasted outward in all directions.

The rolling shockwaves were so intense that they actually tore a hole right through the apocalyptic black clouds directly above the giant, allowing the sun to shine through. The golden sunlight cascaded down onto the Golden Giant, blending with its own radiant aura to create an absolutely blinding, awe-inspiring spectacle.

”What the heck is that thing?!” Lucy shrieked, pointing a trembling finger at the colossal golden entity looming right outside. She literally had to lean so far back she was almost falling over just to see the top of the giant’s head. Tears of absolute panic pricked the corners of her eyes; she was utterly terrified by the sheer scale of the construct.

”Oh man! It has been so long since I last saw Noah use this magic! It is so awesome! But I am definitely going to beat him one day!” Natsu cheered excitedly from the sidelines.

”You’ve seen this thing before?!” Lucy grabbed Natsu by the shoulders and shook him violently.

”Yeah, back when Noah and Gildarts had their duel three years ago. But... something seems a little different from back then...” Natsu ignored Lucy’s frantic shaking, squinting his eyes as he tried to figure out what had changed.

”The one from three years ago had a whole bunch of arms. This one only has two,” Happy chimed in, pointing out the difference.

”Right! That’s it!” Natsu slammed his right fist into his left palm, suddenly standing perfectly still as he shouted in realization.

”Is that really the most important thing to focus on right now...” Lucy groaned weakly, letting go of Natsu’s shoulders, completely drained of energy.

”He is actually this ridiculously strong?! He wasn’t even using a fraction of his true power when he fought Jose. What kind of suicidal mindset did Jose have to declare war on us?!” Gajeel stared up at the Golden Giant, a cold sweat instantly soaking through his shirt.

If Noah had unleashed this form during the Phantom Lord war, Gajeel could say with absolute certainty that every single member of Phantom Lord combined wouldn’t have stood a chance. The entire guild war would have ended in a single, instantaneous slaughter.

Beside him, Juvia nodded vigorously in terrified agreement. Unable to help herself, she shuffled closer to Gray until her shoulder was pressed firmly against his, finally letting out a small sigh of relief.

Gray blinked in surprise, but he didn’t pull away, keeping his eyes locked onto the towering Golden Giant.

”Noah’s strength has grown again. That is a wonderful thing,” Gildarts sighed, his face full of profound admiration. As a senior member of the guild, seeing Noah reach new heights only brought him joy. It meant the guild was thriving, didn’t it? Furthermore, after his own harrowing encounter with the Black Dragon, witnessing Noah’s terrifying power put his mind at ease. Knowing there was someone in the guild who was at least as strong as him—if not stronger—to share the burden made the looming threat of Acnologia feel much less suffocating.

”Yeah. I can’t even fathom where Noah’s upper limits lie anymore. It truly is incredible,” Ur muttered from beside Gildarts, her tone laced with a deep, complex sigh.

She had never once slacked on her daily training, but she was now completely incapable of keeping up with Noah’s monstrous growth rate. For a brief moment, she genuinely wondered if she was just getting too old to keep pace with the younger generation.

”You’re amazing, Mother! Noah is just a freakish anomaly. You absolutely cannot use him as a standard for comparison!” Ultear immediately hugged Ur’s arm, looking at her mother with complete seriousness.

One glance at Ur’s expression told Ultear exactly what she was overthinking, and she quickly stepped in to crush those self-doubting thoughts. Having known Noah for so long, Ultear had long since given up on treating him as a benchmark. If she actually tried to use him as her goal, she would have driven herself into a state of crippling depression ages ago.

”You’re right. In all my years, I’ve never seen anyone as absurdly powerful as Noah. It really is unfair to use him as a baseline,” Ur chuckled, snapping out of her momentary funk.

Seeing her mother smile again, Ultear breathed a sigh of relief. Even though she knew Noah couldn’t see her, she still shot a fierce glare up at the Golden Giant’s head. It was entirely his fault her mother was doubting herself!

The rest of the guild stood paralyzed, their eyes glued to the Golden Giant. Even those who had witnessed it three years ago had only seen it from a great distance; experiencing its overwhelming, suffocating presence up close was an entirely different, earth-shattering experience. The crushing pressure in the air made it hard for them to even breathe.

As for the newer members who had never seen it before, they were screaming in sheer shock. They had never even conceptualized a magic of this magnitude. It completely shattered their understanding of the world, grinding their previous common sense into dust. They simply stared at the giant, frantically trying to rebuild their entire worldview from scratch.

Noah, of course, was entirely oblivious to the existential crises happening below. Once the Golden Giant had stabilized its footing, he lowered his hands and looked up at the violently swirling vortex of clouds above.

Suspended inside the Golden Giant’s head, hundreds of meters above the ground, Noah could clearly sense the magical density at the core of the clouds skyrocketing. The Anima spell was on the absolute brink of fully activating.

Noah raised his right hand, and the colossal Golden Giant perfectly mirrored the movement. The sheer force of the massive arm swinging upward whipped up a gale that blew away the newly gathered clouds directly above it.

Noah curled his right hand into a claw, and the Golden Giant’s massive hand followed suit.

Suddenly, a pinprick of brilliant light materialized just above the giant’s right palm. It rapidly expanded, and in the blink of an eye, it swelled into an absolutely gargantuan orb of pure energy—roughly the size of the Golden Giant’s entire upper torso.

Noah perfectly contained and compressed the cataclysmic energy within the sphere. From the outside, it emitted no destructive shockwaves, looking like nothing more than a harmless globe of light silently resting in the giant’s palm.

However, the guild members below were absolutely not foolish enough to believe that massive energy sphere was harmless.

”Is this really necessary?! If he accidentally drops that thing, Anima won’t even get the chance to destroy Magnolia, because that orb will wipe the entire city off the map first!” Sorano gasped in sheer disbelief.

”What?!” Lucy shrieked, staring at the terrifyingly massive energy bomb hovering directly above their heads with pure horror.

”Don’t worry too much. Noah’s magical control is absolute perfection. He won’t let it drop,” Erza reassured them with a calm, confident smile.

High above, Noah bent his knees, preparing to jump. The Golden Giant flawlessly mirrored his stance, crouching low.

”NOOO! DON’T DO IT!!!” Makarov screamed, his vision going completely dark as he realized what was about to happen.

”Give it up, Master. You can’t stop him,” Laxus sighed, patting Makarov on the shoulder.

Makarov shot Laxus a fierce glare. Did Laxus really think he didn’t know that?! But he had to at least try to stop him! If he didn’t try, how would he know for sure?!

BOOM!!!

Makarov’s pleas fell on deaf ears. Under Noah’s command, the Golden Giant violently launched itself into the sky.

A devastating, localized earthquake erupted from the spot where the giant had just been standing, ripping through the surrounding terrain. At the same time, the concussive force of the leap generated hurricane-level winds that blasted in every direction. Dozens-of-meters-high tsunamis violently smashed against the magical barrier, producing a deafening roar that echoed across all of Magnolia.

”Sigh...” Makarov couldn’t even find the words to complain. He simply let out a long, defeated, soul-crushing sigh.

”Well, at least you warned the Mayor ahead of time to evacuate the area and issue a public notice. The panic shouldn’t be too bad,” Laxus offered reasonably.

Fairy Tail mages brawling in the streets of Magnolia was practically a daily occurrence, so the citizens had developed a remarkably high tolerance for collateral damage. While this situation was undeniably extreme, it wasn’t completely outside the realm of what the townspeople could mentally process.

”I can only hope so,” Makarov muttered, desperately trying to look on the bright side.

Having launched itself into the air, the Golden Giant soared toward the heavens. Guided by Noah, it hoisted the gargantuan energy sphere overhead and violently shoved it directly into the exact center of the swirling Anima vortex!

BOOM!!!

The moment the energy sphere made contact with the vortex, a cataclysmic shockwave erupted, blasting outward in all directions.

The sheer kinetic impact nearly shattered the delicate spatial structure of the descending Anima portal. Panicking slightly, Noah immediately pulled back a fraction of his magical output, shrinking the energy sphere just enough for the Anima portal to stabilize itself.

Under the immense suction of the Anima, the energy sphere began to rapidly shrink as astronomical torrents of magical energy were siphoned directly through the spatial tunnel and funneled into the alternate dimension.

Meanwhile, the Golden Giant’s left hand wasn’t idle. Following Noah’s precise commands, the giant pressed its left palm directly against the outer edges of the swirling vortex.

Massive, intricate golden magic circles unfurled from beneath the giant’s hand, projecting directly into the spatial tunnel created by Anima. These runes aggressively reinforced the dimensional rift, rapidly stabilizing the spatial walls and drastically increasing the tunnel’s maximum load capacity.

Noah immediately felt the flow of magic draining from the right-hand energy sphere become significantly smoother and faster. His reinforcement arrays were working perfectly.

Seizing the opportunity, Noah continuously condensed the right-hand energy sphere, meticulously regulating the raw output to match the portal’s absorption rate. At the same time, he relentlessly layered more reinforcement runes onto the spatial tunnel, pushing the rift’s structural integrity to the absolute maximum limit he could achieve.

”Is Noah going to be okay? He’s burning through an utterly absurd amount of magic,” Lucy asked, her voice trembling as she stared up at the Golden Giant’s actions, physically feeling the suffocating waves of magic washing over the city.

”He’s perfectly fine. Noah’s magical reserves are virtually bottomless; this is more than within his limits. Furthermore, his magic regeneration rate is terrifyingly fast. You really don’t need to worry about him,” Erza answered calmly.

Hearing Erza’s absolute confidence, Lucy finally let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Over the course of this single maneuver, Noah had already burned through enough raw magic to completely empty Lucy’s own reserves hundreds of times over. She had been genuinely terrified he was going to drain his own life force.

”The guy is an absolute monster,” Gajeel muttered without a second thought. Watching Noah casually manipulate reality on such an apocalyptic scale left him completely speechless. Was this truly a level of power a human being could reach?

As Noah continued to aggressively pump his magic into the sky, the Anima’s spatial tunnel grew completely stable.

Simultaneously, the violent, city-wide gravitational suction generated by the Anima began to rapidly weaken. The spell had absorbed the massive influx of energy and was finally nearing its completion.

Soon, the last lingering traces of the suction completely vanished. At that exact same moment, Noah finished weaving the final golden reinforcement array into the dimensional walls.

The Golden Giant withdrew both of its hands and slowly floated backward.

Left behind in the clouds was a massive, perfectly stable dimensional void. The interior and exterior walls of the spatial tunnel were densely lined with glowing golden runes—the physical remnants of Noah’s reinforcement magic holding the gateway open.

The Golden Giant began its descent back to the earth, rapidly shrinking in size as it fell, until the golden energy completely dissolved and returned to Noah’s physical body.

Noah landed gracefully back on the ground, coming to a halt in front of the awestruck Fairy Tail members.

”Great work up there,” Mirajane greeted him with a breathtakingly warm smile.

”It wasn’t too bad. Actually went a lot smoother than I expected,” Noah smiled back casually.

”Hey, if that weird spell in the sky had actually succeeded, what would have happened to us?” Natsu asked, staring at Noah with intense seriousness.

”Did you just completely tune out everything Noah literally explained to us earlier?” Gray groaned from the side.

Natsu completely ignored him. He really hadn’t paid attention earlier, and now he wanted a straight answer.

”If it had succeeded, every single person in this city would have been forcibly converted into a Lacrima crystal, dragged into the alternate dimension, and used as disposable magic fuel,” Noah explained patiently, ensuring the rest of the guild heard him clearly. ”In simpler terms: if Anima succeeded, everyone here would have died.”

”Got it. So, are we heading over there right now?! I’m going to find the bastards who planned this and beat the absolute crap out of them!” Natsu snarled, his teeth grinding in pure fury.

Looking at Natsu’s expression, Lucy could tell just how deeply enraged he was. If the guild hadn’t been prepared, the horrific fate Noah described would have fallen upon everyone they loved. For someone who cherished his guild as fiercely as Natsu did, that was an utterly unforgivable crime.

”What?!”

”Are you serious?!”

”What kind of sick, twisted magic is that?!”

The rest of the guild members who hadn’t been privy to the briefing erupted into an uproar of terror and outrage. It was only then that they realized they had all just spent the last few minutes teetering on the absolute brink of total annihilation without even knowing it.

”Everyone, calm down. We’re going to head over there and resolve this issue at its source,” Noah announced with a confident grin. ”They came directly to our doorstep and tried to wipe us out. We obviously aren’t just going to let that slide.”

”Yeah! Exactly! We have to hit them back!” The entire guild roared in absolute agreement.

Someone in the crowd yelled, ”Do you need us to come with you as backup?!”

Noah shook his head. ”We’ve already decided on a small, elite strike team. If we take too many people, it will severely hinder our mobility and operations over there.”

”Alright! We’ll be waiting for your triumphant return then! Make sure you tell us all about the crazy stuff in the alternate dimension!”

”Yeah! And don’t forget to bring back some weird local souvenirs!”

Hearing that they weren’t needed for combat, the guild quickly abandoned the idea of joining the war and immediately pivoted to demanding exotic, interdimensional local specialties from Noah’s team instead.

~~~

Get early access to 50+ advanced chapters on Patreon!

https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn