Fairy Tail: Collapsing Stars

Chapter 433: Lucy: Fairy Tail Is Too Dangerous. Is It Too Late to Quit Now?

”...”

At that moment, Happyʼs face was full of confusion. One had to know that Happy had already stayed in Fairy Tail for six years. Six years might not count for much in other Mage Guilds...

But for Fairy Tail, a Guild where large numbers of Mages left every day, and where staying for one year was already enough to count as an old member, an existence like Happy, who had stayed for six years, was undoubtedly at the elder level. He was even enough to become a legend in the magic world...

However, even Happy, who had stayed in Fairy Tail for six full years and could completely be called an elder-level member of Fairy Tail, still could not understand Lucyʼs question.

Or rather, Happy had never seriously thought about this question before. Why did Fairy Tail have no fairies and only dragons, yet it was not called Dragon Tail, but Fairy Tail...

”Aye!”

After seriously thinking for a long while, Happyʼs brain completely crashed, and his mouth could only continuously repeat his catchphrase.

”What a stupid cat!”

Lucy no longer expected to get an answer from Happy. And so...

Lucy looked toward Erza and Mirajane beside her. Her amber eyes flashed with great confusion.

”Ahem...”

”Lucy, when you ask about the origin of Fairy Tailʼs name, it means you have already begun gradually becoming one of us!”

After sensing Lucyʼs gaze, Erza first coughed twice, then said a few ceremonial words.

”Huh?! Seriously?”

”I donʼt think Iʼm there yet...”

”Really, no, please donʼt talk nonsense!”

”I canʼt be counted as the same type of person as all of you. Iʼm not worthy!”

After hearing this, Lucyʼs expression changed slightly. The moment she thought that Erza was saying she had already begun gradually becoming like Erza, Mirajane, Natsu, and the other Fairy Tail people, she felt her heart suddenly stop!

She, Lucy, had only stayed in Fairy Tail for less than half an hour, yet she had already been assimilated by the strange power of the Fairy Tail people. She had even begun gradually Fairy-Tail-izing without knowing it, which made her feel lingering fear!

”Could there be some virus or curse inside Fairy Tail?”

In response, Lucy muttered to herself with a pale face, complaining to herself.

One had to know, although Lucy had run away from the Heartfilia family, or...

To be precise, Lucy had escaped from her family...

Lucy did not mean that she never wanted to return to her family. She merely wanted to prove herself to Jude and Layla, to prove that even alone, she could live very well.

At the same time, Lucy also wanted to prove to Jude that even if her life did not follow the path Jude had planned for her—inherit the Heartfilia Konzern, become the head of the Konzern, then find an honest foolish boy to marry into the family—she could still live very well. Her life did not need others to interfere, and it could still become incomparably wonderful...

But...

Lucy did not mean that she wanted to sever ties with her father and mother. Lucyʼs dream was to return to her family after becoming a famous Celestial Spirit Mage and give her father Jude and mother Layla an explanation! Yes, Lucy planned to return to the Heartfilia family. At the very least, Lucy wanted to reassure her parents that she loved them very much and did not want to sever her father-daughter or mother-daughter relationship with Layla and Jude...

However, Lucy knew clearly in her heart that once she became like Erza and the others, she would absolutely be chased out of the house by Jude and Layla! At that moment, Lucyʼs mind had already imagined herself being assimilated by the Fairy Tail people. In Lucyʼs imagination, she wore a lewd bodysuit, held a whip in her hand, stood before Jude and Layla, and shouted loudly, ”Long live battle! Destruction is art!” Then she was chased out of the house by Jude and Layla...

Even further...

If Lucy became a pervert like Gray or Lyon, taking off clothes everywhere, then even if Layla and Jude severed their mother-daughter or father-daughter relationship with her, it would probably only be a matter of time, right?

Thinking this, another scene appeared in Lucyʼs mind.

”Ahaha, Father, Mother, and Brandish and my dear little sister Michelle~”

”Streak! Streaking is art!”

In Lucyʼs imagination, with three Kuroko no Basket censor bars above and below, she stood before Jude, Layla, Brandish, and Michelle, shouting loudly. It was a scene of her advocating for her whole family to join the naked god cult.

”Absolutely not!”

Thinking up to this point, Lucy suddenly snapped awake. Her head was covered in sweat, and her expression was ferocious. That absolutely was not her future. Her future would absolutely not be a hellish scene!

”I donʼt want to have no home!”

As Lucy imagined the hellish scene in her mind that refused to fade, she weakly held her head with both hands, knelt on the ground, and wailed in pain.

”Lucy, what kind of messy things were you thinking about?”

”I feel like you were thinking about something very rude!”

Happy, whose observational ability toward random messy things was always MAX, naturally noticed the tears flowing from the corners of Lucyʼs eyes at this moment. He looked at the top of Lucyʼs head, narrowed his eyes slightly, and felt like he had seen some strange scenes, so he softly asked Lucy.

”Uh...”

”Hehe, um, that, that...”

After hearing this, Lucy finally interrupted her own fantasy. She really had been imagining some extremely powerful and absolutely unshowable scenes. After all, in Lucyʼs mind, she had appeared fully naked...

And so, Lucy revealed a somewhat awkward smile, while her eyes drifted uncertainly, as if thinking about what she should say.

”I understand!”

At this time, Erza looked at Lucy and seemed to understand something. She smiled and walked in front of Lucy.

”S-So close?!”

Lucy looked at Erza, who had suddenly moved close to her, and her pretty face turned slightly red. She was somewhat embarrassed by Erzaʼs valiant aura.

If Irene usually gave people the impression of being overbearing, looking down on all things, a queen high above overlooking all living beings, a celestial maiden seated above the clouds!

Then Erza was a hero holding the Holy Sword, still cutting through thorns and brambles, not yet crowned king, a Knight King advancing toward victory! But precisely because Erzaʼs valiant temperament continuously interfered with Lucyʼs perception...

Before recognizing Erza as a beautiful woman, it was easier for Lucy to be influenced by Erzaʼs temperament and instinctively treat Erza as a knight first.

It could be said that Erzaʼs handsome face and slightly androgynous knight outfit matched every beautiful description of knights in the shoujo manga and girl stories Lucy usually read! As a knight, Erza was undoubtedly flawless...

”Lucy, come! Act spoiled to your heartʼs content!”

Just as Lucyʼs pretty face turned slightly red, Erza opened her arms and gave Lucy a bright smile.

”Huh?!”

Lucy, whose maiden heart had originally begun stirring as if a deer were crashing around in her chest, immediately froze after hearing Erzaʼs words.

”Isnʼt our progress a little too fast?!”

Lucy took half a step back, her face already red inside and out like a ripe apple.

”What are you saying, Lucy?”

”Donʼt be shy. Come close as much as you like!”

After hearing Lucy, Erza revealed a somewhat helpless smile.

Then she took one step forward, directly arrived in front of Lucy, and pulled Lucy into her arms.

”Uh...”

This made Lucyʼs face even redder.

”So forceful! And... so hard!”

Because Erza had not yet changed out of the armor she wore while fighting Mirajane, Lucy unfortunately failed to feel Erzaʼs warm embrace. Instead, her head directly crashed into Erzaʼs metal breastplate.

”I know, Lucy!”

”You are probably also a child without family! But donʼt worry. There are countless children like you in Fairy Tail! As long as you join Fairy Tail, we will all be your family~”

Erza gently stroked Lucyʼs head, soothing Lucy the same way Evan had soothed her when she was little.

This was not Erza deceiving Lucy. Fairy Tail was a Guild where all the Mages in the Guild put together could hardly gather a few pairs of still-living parents. Almost everyoneʼs background was as miserable as Bruce Wayne, the famous Master Wayne...

Speaking of which, Magnolia was not much safer than Gotham City, which was full of talented people...

After all, the talents cultivated by Fairy Tail were not much worse than those from Arkham Asylum...

Because there were so many orphans in Fairy Tail that Erza had once suspected whether her Guild Master was a human trafficker, Erza subconsciously treated Lucy as an orphan like Wendy, Lyon, Levy, Freed, and the others.

Erza did not think about whether Lucyʼs parents were alive or not. After all, what parents would allow their child to grow up and then come to Fairy Tail? At least Erza had that much self-awareness...

”I...”

Tears flowed from Lucyʼs eyes at this moment. Although she was deeply moved, she did have family, okay?!

Her father and mother were both still alive, and their bodies were extremely healthy!

”Lucy is crying!”

Happy, whose observational ability toward random messy things was always MAX, naturally noticed the tears flowing from the corners of Lucyʼs eyes at this moment.

”Lucy must be moved!”

In response, Erza and Mirajane gave an explanation.

”...”

At this moment, Lucy was silent. Held in Erzaʼs arms, she was indeed moved—moved to the point that she did not dare move, afraid that Erza, whose strength was like a humanoid dragon, would accidentally snap her in half with one exertion.

”Thatʼs great, Lucy. From today on, you have family too~”

Happy sent Lucy his sincere blessing at this moment.

”Thatʼs really great~ But I already have family~”

”Also, if possible, please shut up, you stupid cat!”

Lucy looked lifelessly at Happy flying in the air and coldly complained in her heart.

”BOOM!!”

At the same time, the fierce battle in the sky gradually entered its climax...

”Uh...”

After Lucy felt the impact from the sky, her expression trembled, and she could not help raising her head.

Then she was completely dumbfounded...

She could not understand the scene in the sky!

She saw that the sky above was divided into three parts by three different types of magic power! One part of the pitch-black sky was densely covered with stars, and the stars constantly flickered! The starlight filling the sky released endless magic power, and vaguely, it seemed as if the stars were on standby at any moment, ready to fall toward the earth!

Close to that starry sky was another pitch-black night. Only, unlike the star-filled night, there were no flickering stars in that dark sky, only a golden full moon. At this moment, that full moon was constantly releasing icy white light toward the earth! It seemed as if it wanted to freeze everything in the world!

Next to those two night skies was daylight, different from the night! The blazing great sun was the mother of all things, hanging eternally in the sky! However, this great sun was different from the sun, the source of energy that nourished life. It seemed to have gone mad, continuously releasing heat and light toward the ground, as if it wanted to scorch the entire earth!

Just like that, above Magnolia Town, three supreme powerhouses carried three different celestial phenomena and constantly opposed one another...

Then each released their strongest strike...

Three different magic powers instantly collided, and terrifying energy exploded above Magnolia Town!

”BOOM!!”

Immediately afterward, dense cracks covered these three different skies.

”The sky... cracked?!”

Lucy looked at the cracks visible to the naked eye in space. Her eyes trembled, and her body shook slightly.

Lucy had never seen such a terrifying scene before, as if the sky itself had been torn apart...

”Buzz!”

Before Lucyʼs mind could calm down, another enormous roar sounded. In the shattered sky, a massive magic circle large enough to cover all of Magnolia Town suddenly appeared.

The next second, the magic circle lit up with waves of dim light. Immediately afterward, it seemed as though a giant black hole capable of devouring everything had appeared in the sky. This black hole enveloped the entire town, vowing to absorb everything in Magnolia Town into it...

Even the townspeople and the members of Fairy Tail were no exception...

At that moment, an elderly man who had lived in Magnolia Town for several decades looked at the pitch-black sky above his head with an indifferent expression, a pipe held in his mouth.

He simply let the tremendous gravity generated by the black hole suck him over...

However, this did not count for anything to this old man. He still calmly flipped through the newspaper in his hand.

”Phew~”

From time to time, he removed the pipe from his mouth with his left hand and fiercely spat out a mouthful of white smoke.

”Is that so? Is it time to go to another world again?”

”Seriously? Hasnʼt the world-switching been a bit frequent lately?”

In response, the old man merely muttered to himself, complaining a few words about the phenomenon in the sky, then continued flipping through the newspaper and reading with great interest.

”Huh?!”

”What happened?”

”Everyone! Everyone is floating! Iʼm going to die, Iʼm going to die!!”

”I havenʼt even become a Celestial Spirit Mage famous across the continent yet! Am I going to die already...”

”My life is way too plain, isnʼt it?!”

”Uh! It seems like my life stopped being plain from the moment I joined Fairy Tail!”

”But please donʼt let my life only be unplain for a few dozen minutes before taking it away!”

Compared to the calm old man in Magnolia Town, a certain blond girl who had just joined Fairy Tail was much more embarrassing. At that moment, after discovering that her body was uncontrollably flying toward the pitch-black hole in the sky, tears slid from her eyes, while she kept wailing.

”Lucy, calm down! Calm down! Donʼt be nervous...”

In response to Lucyʼs crying, Erza, an ”elder” of Fairy Tail, immediately comforted her.

”But, but...”

”The sky has cracked! Weʼre about to be sucked in! Weʼre about to die...”

Lucy wiped her tears and spoke to Erza.

”Lucy, the sky has indeed cracked because of the battle between Mother, Senior Selene, and Ignia! But donʼt worry! We wonʼt die. The magic circle that appeared in the sky right now is Motherʼs Super Subspace Magic!”

”If Iʼm not mistaken, itʼs because Mother, Senior Selene, and Ignia think fighting in Earth-land isnʼt satisfying, so they plan to switch worlds and fight freely there...”

After hearing Lucy, Erza smiled gently and explained.

”Huh?! Another world?”

”So there isnʼt only one world where we live?”

After hearing Erza, Lucy looked shocked. This was the first time she had heard the term ”another world.”

”Lucy, of course there isnʼt only one world where we live!”

”Lucy, when you raise your head every night and look up at the night sky, can you see the stars filling the sky?”

Mirajane looked at Lucyʼs confused expression, smiling faintly. She first nodded lightly, indicating that there was more than one world in this universe, then did not immediately explain the relationship between worlds to Lucy. Instead, she looked at Lucy and asked in return.

”Uh! That is true.”

After hearing Mirajaneʼs question, Lucy nodded lightly and answered.

”Thatʼs right! Then let me tell you, Lucy. Those sparkling stars you see every night when you raise your head are each a world! Itʼs just that some stars are not suitable for humans to live on...”

”And the world we are about to go to is one of the worlds among the stars that is suitable for humans to live in! Its name is Elentear! It is a world full of magic power...”

”By the way, aside from Elentear, the world full of magic power, there is also Edolas, the world with scarce magic power, and Earth-land, the world with balanced magic power where we are located! These are the three worlds we currently know that are suitable for humans to live in...”

After hearing Lucyʼs answer, Mirajane revealed a satisfied smile, then explained the relationship between stars and worlds in the Fairy Tail world to Lucy.

”So thatʼs how it is...”

After hearing Mirajane, Lucyʼs eyes were full of shock.

To be honest, she really had been shocked by Mirajane.

”Lucy, when fighting, because this worldʼs magic power isnʼt enough, so the fight doesnʼt feel satisfying, and then you switch to a world full of magic power to continue fighting—isnʼt that something that happens all the time? Youʼre really making too big a fuss. You should know this is common knowledge!”

Happy flapped his small wings, held a salted fish in his hand and kept gnawing on it, while smiling at Lucy.

”What kind of common knowledge is that?!”

”Other than Fairy Tail, no other place has that kind of common knowledge at all!”

”Iʼve never heard of it! I have absolutely never heard of it!”

”At least where I was born, there was no such common knowledge!”

After hearing Happy, Lucyʼs eye twitched slightly. Then she strained her voice and shouted at Happy.

”Oh?! Is that so?”

After hearing Lucy, Happy revealed an innocent gaze.

Happy really had no intention of deceiving Lucy. In Fairy Tail, the worlds of Edolas and Elentear were not secrets to begin with...

Moreover, because Selene and the others loved running to Elentear, a world full of magic power, whenever their fights got intense, this had become one of the daily routines everyone in Fairy Tail and even all of Magnolia Town had gotten used to...

Over time, it had become one of those household life facts everyone knew.

”BOOM!”

Just as Lucy was crazily complaining at Happy, accompanied by a roar, the ruins of Fairy Tail, along with Magnolia Town, finally finished reconstructing in Elentear!

”Whoosh!”

At the same time, the battle between the three figures in the sky grew even more intense.

”Divine Star Collapse!!”

Irene flew through the air, her vast magic power shaking heaven and earth. She instantly captured a meteorite about ten kilometers in diameter. No, based on this scale, there would be no problem calling it an asteroid...

One had to know that in the famous asteroid impact theory, the protagonist that destroyed the dinosaurs, the asteroid that fell to earth, was only estimated by scientists to be about ten kilometers in diameter!

And the asteroid selected by Irene was now accelerating madly, falling toward Elentear at a speed far beyond sound...

In response, Elentearʼs world spirit expressed: ”I...”

”Hey, hey, hey! Everyone, look! What is that thing?”

”A meteorite? No, at that scale, isnʼt that an asteroid? What the hell?!”

”Weʼre dead! Weʼre dead! This time weʼre definitely dead...”

Inside Fairy Tail, Lucy looked at the asteroid glowing red in the sky and widened her eyes. Her eyes were filled with disbelief.

”Hahaha! Good!”

Ignia looked at the meteorite falling toward him and Selene, widening his eyes, his gaze full of joy.

”Burn to ashes!”

Following Igniaʼs roar, the land of Elentear began to rumble. A huge volcano was born on this peaceful continent of Elentear under Igniaʼs control. This volcano connected straight to Elentearʼs core, and its size was even larger than Mauna Loa, the largest volcano on Earth from Evanʼs original world! Its power surpassed all the supervolcanoes from Evanʼs previous life!

Without a doubt, the volcano Ignia created was a massive volcano capable of affecting an entire continentʼs ecological balance...

Although both Earth-land and the current Elentear had continents far larger than the world Evan lived in during his previous life...

”BOOM!!”

As Igniaʼs voice fell, the volcano connected to the planetʼs core was like a natural cannon. Endless magma erupted from the crater like cannonballs, crashing toward the meteorite falling from the sky toward the earth!

For a time, endless magma directly held back the falling meteorite in the sky! The two forces used heaven and earth as their boundary, splitting the entire world of Elentear in two...

However, whether it was the meteorite summoned by Irene or the supervolcano created by Ignia, both were undoubtedly disasters for Elentear.

”First an asteroid falling, then a volcanic eruption?!”

”Please spare me! I really canʼt take it anymore...”

”Fairy Tail is too dangerous. I want to go home...”

”Speaking of which, if Fairy Tail has always been this dangerous, how did Natsu and the others grow up?”

”Uh, I think I know why Natsu and the others are all as strong as monsters!”

”Because in this Guild, the weak have already died...”

Lucy looked at the meteorite and volcano splitting heaven and earth in two, widening her eyes as she sat down on the ground.

Suddenly, countless scenes flashed through Lucyʼs mind. In her mind, she remembered the words her father Jude had once said to persuade her...

Even now, Lucy still remembered Judeʼs posture, tone, and the contents of what he said at that time.

At that time, Jude wore a black suit and stood straight before her, speaking coldly to her: ”Lucy, I do not want you to become a Mage! Even less do I want you to go to some Mage Guild! You have no idea how dangerous the world of Mages truly is! I only want you to stay at home, study properly, then inherit our Heartfilia family business!”

At that time, after hearing Judeʼs words, Lucy had dismissed them completely...

In her heart, she thought that she had four Zodiac keys inherited from her mother Layla, so how could there possibly be danger? The Zodiac Celestial Spirits were existences standing at the peak of Celestial Spirits. Even in the Fiore magic world, they were first-rate existences...

But now, Lucy only wanted to say one thing to her father Jude: ”Dad, I was wrong! Your child understands your painstaking efforts now. Your child wants to go home now. Maybe, just as you said, your child really isnʼt suited to become a Mage. I am too normal and ordinary, so much so that I seem out of place with everyone here...”

”BOOM!!”

Just as Lucy watched the meteorite collide with the volcano and silently wrote her will in her heart, the group of troublemakers around her had already begun causing trouble.

”Come, come, come! The betting pool is open!”

”Today weʼre betting on whether Ireneʼs meteorite will fall and smash the continent apart! Or whether Igniaʼs magma will eventually burn everything on the continent to ashes!”

Fairy Tailʼs troublemakers were already in position, and everyone began placing bets on todayʼs gambling round.

In truth, this was not the first time this group of troublemakers had bet on who was stronger between Irene and Ignia in a beam clash! After all, Irene and Ignia had fought more than once...

And the continent under the feet of the Fairy Tail people at this moment was a battlefield specially provided for monsters like Irene, Ignia, Selene, and Evan to fight...

This was an uninhabited continent, and it had already been destroyed and recreated countless times...

”I bet on Irene! Irene will definitely win!”

”I bet on Ignia. Heʼs Natsuʼs brother, after all! The invincible Fire Dragon God of the Northern Continent, Guiltina!”

”Irene has Evan helping her. Sheʼll definitely win, okay? If it doesnʼt work, itʼll become a mother-son double attack. Is there anyone in this Guild who can beat Irene and Evan, the strongest mother and son? No, right?”

Inside the Guild, the gamblers discussed sentence after sentence about whether Irene or Ignia had a higher chance of winning.

”They started gambling?! Not only are they not running away, they started gambling?!”

”What is wrong with these people? Do they not have any sense of danger?”

Lucy looked at Fairy Tailʼs gamblers and rapidly complained.

”Donʼt worry, Lucy. Everything will be safe...”

In response to Lucyʼs complaint, the gamblers smiled and comforted her.

”No! I canʼt see the word safe at all! Speaking of which, is the safety in your eyes the same safety as the one in my eyes?”

Lucy shook her head at Fairy Tailʼs gamblers. Her body trembled slightly. In her view, she was about to die soon.

”Donʼt worry, Lucy! Itʼs fine, because...”

Just as Lucyʼs heart was rapidly beating, Makarov, who had previously been knocked unconscious, slowly woke up. He looked at Lucy and smiled.

”Master!”

Lucy did not know what had happened to her, but the moment she heard Makarovʼs words, she felt warm inside, as if she had become much safer.

”Buzz!”

Just as Lucyʼs heart settled down, the meteorite and volcano were both enveloped by a strange light!

”Hm?”

This made Irene and Ignia, who were clashing with magic power, both freeze. They turned to look sideways.

”BOOM!!”

The original night let out waves of roaring. The astonishingly large moon that had originally been hanging above everyoneʼs heads was enlarging before everyoneʼs eyes at a speed visible to the naked eye.

No! It was not that the moon had become bigger, but that the moon was getting closer and closer to Elentear...

In other words, the moon was falling from the sky...

”...because the real danger only starts now!”

At this time, Makarov said the second half of his sentence to Lucy.

”...”

Lucy fell silent. Her face was ashen, and her eyes lost their light like a dead personʼs.

”Master Makarov, Fairy Tail is too dangerous. Is it still not too late to quit now?”

In response, Lucy looked expressionlessly at Makarov and asked.

”Of course thereʼs no problem~”

”But I must remind you, Lucy!”

”You are currently in another world! If you choose to quit the Guild now, you wonʼt be able to go back for the rest of your life~”

Makarov first agreed to Lucyʼs request, then revealed an old fox-like smile.

In this world, members that he, Makarov, had taken a liking to would sooner or later belong to Fairy Tail...

”Threat! This is naked threat!”

After hearing Makarov, Lucyʼs eye twitched slightly. She had already heard Makarovʼs threat toward her.

”So, Lucy, what will you choose?”

”I imagine you donʼt want to be unable to return to Earth-land for the rest of your life, right?”

Makarovʼs smile was incomparably sinister, like a human trafficker plus the Guild Master of a Dark Guild.

If Precht saw Makarovʼs sinister smile at this moment, he would definitely roar, ”I finally found your flaw! Brat! And you still say you havenʼt fallen into darkness? The air around you is filled with a thick stench~”

”...”

After hearing Makarov, Lucyʼs face was ashen.

”Roar!”

”Everyone! Stop!”

Just as Lucyʼs heart had already died, a violent wind suddenly blew above Magnolia Town. Accompanied by bolts of lightning and thunder, a huge azure dragon suddenly appeared in the sky and called for the battle to stop.