Fairy Tail: You Call This Celestial Spirit Magic?!

Chapter 595 595

"Don't get discouraged. I'm not the same as the rest of you."

With a smile on his face, Marco reached out and patted Laxus on the shoulder.

And he truly meant it.

It was the plain, unvarnished truth.

It might have sounded a little irritating, but it was something Laxus had to accept.

If he kept trying to measure himself against Marco, the only thing waiting for him was blow after blow to his confidence.

Marco really was different from them.

As far as magic was concerned, his upper limit was absurdly far beyond common sense.

What was more, Marco was still only a beginner on the path of a Saint.

So how exactly was Laxus supposed to compete with that?

"Maybe... you're right."

For once, Laxus didn't argue back against Marco's blunt honesty.

He simply nodded and accepted it.

There was no helping it.

Whether he liked it or not, he had to accept it. The battle Marco had fought against the Black Dragon was already far beyond anything Laxus could reach.

Laxus wasn't an idiot.

He had seen that fight with his own eyes.

He had witnessed the sheer, terrifying force Marco and the Black Dragon had unleashed, and by now he understood just how much Marco usually held back.

That Black Dragon was known by countless fearsome titles: the End of the World, the Dragon King, the Black Wing of Ruin, the Origin of Evil.

In legend, it was an existence of absolute terror and destruction, a monster said to be capable of ending the world itself.

Compared to that, Marco—who had managed to grievously wound the Black Dragon—had always been unbelievably low-key.

In fact, before this, no one had ever truly seen the limit of his strength.

"It's fine. You may not be stronger than me, but compared to everyone else, you're still ridiculously strong."

Seeing that Laxus had finally come to terms with reality, Marco gave his cheap older brother a few words of encouragement.

He really didn't want Laxus to end up genuinely crushed by this.

"You really don't need to keep stressing that I'm weaker than you."

Rolling his eyes, Laxus slapped Marco's hand away.

Even after seeing Marco display power on par with the Black Dragon, he couldn't bring himself to look at him with awe or reverence.

Marco was still the little brother he had watched grow up, still family—real family.

"Come on. Enough messing around. Let's go home before Gramps and the others worry themselves sick."

Once he saw Laxus had shaken off that gloomy look, Marco stopped teasing him.

Forcing out the power he had only just recovered, he reopened a passage back to Earth-land.

"Another Dimension!"

As Marco ignited his Cosmo, a tear split open in space.

Laxus didn't hesitate for even a second, he plunged straight into the rift. He trusted Marco completely, and Marco followed right after him.

The reason Marco had chosen to come to the world of Edolas in the first place was simple: safety.

No matter how powerful the Black Dragon was, there was no way it could chase them all the way into Edolas.

And if it somehow did, it would only be digging its own grave.

This was a world without magic.

No matter how hard the Black Dragon's body was or how monstrous its regenerative ability might be, it still depended on magic power.

No matter how bottomless that power seemed, there would come a time when it ran dry—and in this world, there was no magic for it to replenish.

Marco, on the other hand, wielded power from the system of the Cosmo, so even in Edolas he could still unleash overwhelming strength.

If he could somehow drag the Black Dragon into this world, then all he would have to do was slowly wear it down.

He would never have needed to resort to a reckless gamble like the one he had just taken.

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.

The Black Dragon was simply too fast.

It wasn't something that could be casually flung into another world. Marco had tried. At the very least, his Another Dimension couldn't do it—not by himself, not yet.

...

Bzzzzz!

After a violent ripple of spatial distortion, another rift cracked open.

Marco and Laxus leaped out of it, landing in the coastal city of Hargeon.

The members of Fairy Tail had already returned there as well. They couldn't exactly stay adrift at sea forever.

Tenrou Island had been sealed away inside Fairy Sphere, and Master Mavis was currently sweating bullets trying to undo that Super Magic.

There was nothing the others could do to help, so they hadn't stayed behind.

Their plan was to rest for a while in Harujion before heading back to Magnolia.

As the salty sea breeze of Harujion brushed against him, Laxus rolled his neck, producing a faint crack.

Then he turned to look at Marco beside him, whose face was still slightly pale.

Marco had rushed back and forced himself to use his power again. It was obvious he had overdone it.

'This damn brat...'

Marco usually handled everything with effortless composure, so seeing him like this—fragile, drained, unsteady—gave Laxus, for once, the feeling of being the older brother.

At last, it was his turn to look after Marco.

"You sure you're okay? Don't push yourself."

Laxus spoke in a tone that was clearly concerned, even though his expression still carried that provocative, almost taunting edge, as if to say, Can you even manage?

"I'm fine. It's nothing."

Marco forced a smile and took a deep breath, trying to shake off the bone-deep exhaustion dragging at his body.

He was long since used to Laxus's particular way of showing concern, so he paid it no mind.

He was just tired enough that he wanted to sleep where he stood.

"Come on. Everyone's at the inn."

Straightening his back, Marco led Laxus toward the location he had already pinpointed.

The largest tavern and inn in Hargeon had been rented out in its entirety by Fairy Tail.

By the time the two of them drew close, before they had even stepped inside, they could already feel the heavy, anxious atmosphere hanging over the building.

They exchanged a glance.

In the end, it was Marco who pushed the door open.

Laxus hesitated a little. After all, technically, he was no longer a member of Fairy Tail.

Creak.

The moment the tavern door opened, the noise of conversation inside came to a dead stop.

Every eye in the room snapped toward the two figures standing in the doorway.

For an instant, it felt as if time itself had frozen.

"M-Marco?!"

Mirajane was the first to cry out.

She had been sitting silently in a corner, absentmindedly stirring a cup of tea that had long since gone cold.

The moment she saw Marco, she shot to her feet so abruptly that her chair scraped harshly across the floor.