The Dragon God Descends, Gaal Makes His Appearance

On the other side.

In the northern region of the Ishgar continent, the sun was gradually setting. Brago Town.

The sky was tinted with snow flowers, and the snow was steadily covering the entire town.

The residents of the town were dressed in thick cotton clothes, each one hurriedly carrying bags and bundles as they rushed out of the town. On such a cold night with snow falling, going outside represented danger, yet no one dared to stop. 

"Quick, quick, quick! Don't bother with those!" 

"Deliora is coming!" 

"Grab some food and hurry to hide in the big mountains over there." 

"Damn it! How could Deliora be led here?" 

"Forget the heavy stuff! Take only food! Hurry!!!"

"It's bad!" 

"It's already appeared!" 

"Speed up!!!"

No one knew who screamed in panic, but the already frantic residents looked back once before accelerating towards the mountains on the other side. 

Deliora's massive figure had already shown a blurred outline, aimlessly moving forward, with everything in front being destroyed.

And Gray, who had heard the news about Deliora from somewhere else, arrived to see Deliora stepping into Brago Town. 

Boom— 

A sky of flames erupted, as Deliora's random strike plunged the town into a sea of fire.

This scene was almost identical to what happened in Ishgar. It was on that day. 

Deliora destroyed the entire city, and Gray lost everything. 

The scene reappeared before his eyes. 

Hatred instantly overcame reason, and Gray furiously charged towards Brago Town: 

"Del! I! O! Ra!!!" 

During the time he followed Ur, Gray subconsciously used the magic he learned. As he rushed towards the town, he concentrated a bluish ice magic circle with both hands. 

Moments later, Ur and Lyon, who were following closely behind Gray, saw several ice spears shooting up into the sky in the already half-destroyed Brago Town, striking the chest of the massive demon Deliora, which was as big as a mountain. 

Crack— 

The ice spears snapped, doing almost no damage to Deliora. 

However, it caught Deliora's attention as it lowered its head, looking at that tiny ant....

Outside the town, Ur's expression changed dramatically: 

"Too reckless, Gray." 

There was no time for more explanation. Ur shouted: 

"Lyon, find a place to hide!" 

Then, crossing her hands, an ice-blue magic circle formed, aimed at the distant Deliora. Taking a deep breath, she shouted: 

"Ice Make [Rose Garden]!!!"

Thorns made of ice several stories high, intertwined with roses, emerged. 

Like a wall of ice, it rapidly spread towards Deliora, climbing up its legs. 

The thick and sharp ice thorns and roses tangled around the mountain-sized Deliora. 

They forcibly twisted Deliora's head, which was gathering energy in its mouth, to the side. Whoosh— 

Like a laser, the magic roared, cutting through Gray's side and penetrating the entire town. Then....

Boom—!!!! 

A surge of energy erupted, almost completely destroying the town, and the distant snow-capped mountain was left with a huge pit. 

Gray stared blankly at that scene. Crack! 

The sound of ice breaking echoed from above. 

Gray suddenly woke up and looked up.

Deliora, like a giant armored in ice thorns, roared as it broke free, twisting its head left and right as if searching for the source of the attack. 

It soon spotted Ur. 

After all, Ur's immense magical power was clearly visible to Deliora.

With Deliora's gaze fixed on her, Ur's face turned serious: 

"This is troublesome." 

Just being stared at, she felt a faint sense of life-and-death threat.

If things went poorly, she was afraid she would die here today. 

But Ur did not retreat, because if she did, her two disciples would meet their end here.

Facing Deliora's gaze, Ur brought her hands together, aiming at Deliora, forming an ice-blue magic circle in front of her: 

"Ice Make [White Rose Garden]!!!"

The cold air around Ur spiraled outwards, and the gathered cold energy formed spiraling growing ice roses in front of her, bursting forth like infinitely extending ice spears, stabbing towards the distant Deliora.

In the next moment. 

An evil energy clashed violently with the ice magic.

Boom—!!!

———

In the northern part of the Ishgar continent. Under the night sky. 

Dragonite, like an orange-yellow meteor, streaked across the night sky.

A pale blue psychic energy shield enveloped its body, and Gaal, sitting on Dragonite's back, was unfazed by the speed— not even a corner of his clothes was blown about.

A Gengar, shrunk to the size of a fist, was sleeping soundly on Gaal's shoulder. 

In the dark night sky, the bright flames rising from the extreme north became exceptionally radiant. 

Gaal patted Dragonite's back: 

"Faster."

Dragonite let out a low roar: 

"Roar!"

Speed increased once again as they raced towards the place where the light was blazing.

In the center of Brago Town. 

Among the ruins. 

The shield propped up by ice thorns was more than half shattered. Ur gasped for breath as she pushed away the fallen ice blocks. 

Her right calf had vanished.

Ur cast a spell, temporarily creating an ice leg to support her body as she stood up. A bitter smile involuntarily appeared on her face. 

She had overestimated herself.

She knew Deliora was powerful, but she never expected it to be to this extent. 

Deliora's exceptionally high magic resistance rendered her spells almost ineffective against it. 

Not to mention Deliora's tough skin and mountainous body that could easily break free from the entanglement of the ice thorns.

Her usually powerful spells now felt like paper against Deliora. 

The battle had barely begun when it was already over. 

Deliora had effortlessly shattered her magic.

Struggling to remain standing, Ur looked at her two unconscious disciples beside her, sighed: 

"Truly despairing."

She raised her eyes to look at the distant Deliora, determination gleaming in her eyes.

Ordinary magic couldn't even breach Deliora's defenses. 

To deal with such a forbidden demon from Zeref's Book, she could only use forbidden techniques.

At that moment. 

Gray woke from his unconsciousness, struggling to get up, the blurry figures before him gradually becoming clear: 

"Ur... Ur."

Ur smiled softly and walked over to pick up Gray: 

"It's okay, it's already..."

A confused Gray suddenly sensed that something was wrong, looking down and widening his eyes: 

"Ur... your leg!!!"

Ur reassured him: 

"It's just broken, but in this color, the shape magic looks cool, right? Alright, Gray, you take Lyon and leave. I can't protect you both while fighting it."

Tears streamed down Gray's face: 

"I'm sorry... Ur. I... I..."

Ur smiled and patted Gray's head: 

"It's fine, Gray. If this monster is the darkness within you, then let me, your teacher, take care of it. Seems reasonable."

Gray froze, unable to believe Ur still considered him her disciple. Clearly, it was his recklessness that brought them to this situation, causing Ur to end up like this.

Beside him, Lyon somehow woke up, struggling to rise: 

"What are you talking about! Ur, you are the strongest mage! What does this scene of parting life and death mean? It's just a monster!!"

Lyon looked tense, eagerly glancing at Ur. 

Seeing the collapse of Lyon's faith, Ur's lips curled in a bitter smile as she opened her mouth but remained silent for a moment, eventually saying: 

"Lyon. This world is vast. Just in the Ishgar continent, there are many stronger than I. In the future, you can go to countries in the west and see. There, you will find many who are stronger than me."

Lyon's expression darkened, gritting his teeth: 

"What nonsense! There's no way such people exist! Ur, you are the strongest mage! I've been training with you for this reason! The strongest is you, how could you lose to a monster!"

Ur took a deep breath: 

"Lyon."

But Lyon suddenly looked up, gazing at Deliora: 

"If you can't handle it, then let me! It's just a monster! What nonsense!!!"

Lyon roared, crossing his arms over his chest as a massive ice magic circle formed beneath his feet. 

Ur looked at Lyon, surprised: 

"How do you know this magic? Lyon! Your magic power isn't enough to sustain this magic, stop!"

Lyon's expression was somewhat deranged: 

"Why wouldn't I? Of course, it's because I've been secretly learning. It's all because you didn't teach me powerful spells along the way, so I had to sneak a peek at the magic books in the archives. Seriously. You clearly have such strong magic. How could you not handle just a monster!"

The ice magic circle beneath the ground suddenly burst into light. Incredible magical power soared into the sky.

Forbidden magic. 

At the cost of life, 'Iced Shell'. Able to seal enemies forever in ice. 

Even if the spell is broken, the sealed will lose their life.

"Since magic is ineffective against it, I'll just seal it here forever!"

Lyon's crazed voice echoed. 

This overwhelming magical power had already attracted Deliora's attention.

Ur raised her hand, a cold energy instantly freezing Lyon, and couldn't help but shout: 

"Didn't you check the back for the cost of casting?" 

Interrupting Lyon's magic, Ur, exasperated, said: 

"The cost of Iced Shell is the caster's own life. Don't easily give up your life, I'm still here."

After saying that, Ur sighed: 

"But now I have no other choice. I can only use this method to defeat it. That's my responsibility."

Ur stepped forward, positioning herself in front of Lyon, who had turned into ice, and Gray. 

She assumed the same position, arms crossed in front of her. 

An immense ice magic circle spread, not just from the ground but surrounding Deliora, enveloping the mountain-sized creature.

"Iced..."

In the night sky. 

Gaal, having arrived on Dragonite, witnessed Deliora surrounded by the ice magic circle: 

"Ah—, I almost arrived too late."

Gaal patted Dragonite, saying: 

"Dragonite. Draco Meteor!"

Dragonite nodded and let out a roar: 

"Roar!"

A deep blue shadow of a dragon flickered and merged into Dragonite's body. 

In the dark of night, the sky suddenly lit up in blue light. 

Like a meteor, it smashed towards Deliora at incredible speed.

The massive ice magic circle surrounding Deliora shattered like glass upon impact, interrupting Ur's spell.

In the next second. 

Boom—!!!! 

Deliora, the size of a mountain, was knocked back several steps by the impact and then lost control, crashing to the ground. 

From the confused look in Deliora's eyes, it seemed it hadn't sustained significant injury. Deliora's huge green eyes, the size of a house, scanned left and right. 

It raised its gigantic claw, as if trying to swat a fly. 

It attempted to catch the yellow bug flitting about in front of it but couldn't seize it no matter what.

From a distance, Deliora appeared slumped on the ground, swinging its enormous claws in confusion.

In the town center. 

Ur, disrupted by the magic, let out a muffled groan as her body weakened, nearly collapsing to the ground. 

However, an inexplicable force helped her regain her footing.

Ur turned to see a boy in a black magic robe who had appeared beside her, smiling broadly as he observed her.

Seeing her glance over, the boy smiled and said: 

"Don't easily give up your life."

Ur's lips twitched. 

Wasn't that what she just told Lyon?

Suddenly, Ur noticed the emblem on Gaal's robe: 

"That is... Fairy Tail... That's the guild that guy belongs to."

Looking at Gaal's appearance, Ur had already recognized who Gaal was: "The Scholar" Gaal.

Because he could use nearly all types of magic, he was given this title. 

Also, apart from Gildarts, he was the face of Fairy Tail outside, and in the Ishgar continent, he was quite a well-known figure. 

After all, the idea of an all-element mage was hard not to attract attention.

Gaal heard Ur's words and stroked his chin: 

"That guy? Gildarts, right? Do you know where he is now?"

Ur shook her head, and spoke: 

"The last time we met was over a year ago. I don't know where he is now. But this isn't the time to talk about that. Deliora is still over there." 

Ur's expression became a bit lighter, and she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Gaal waved his hand and said: 

"Don't worry, I came here for it. It's excellent research material. You don't even have to die. A more powerful mage has arrived."

He had almost left Gray with a farewell message.

But fortunately, he had survived. The troubling thought was…. Lyon's beliefs would likely shatter.

Sure enough.

Upon hearing Ur mention a stronger mage, Lyon immediately looked up and saw Gaal in his black magic robe standing there.

Lyon incredulously exclaimed: "What are you talking about, Ur! He can't be much older than me, how can he be...."

Lyon was immediately dumbfounded.

He saw Gaal raise the wand in his hand and lightly tap the ground.

The earth began to tremble.

Several giant hands made of rock shot up from under Deliora, gripping its joints and imprisoning it like a cage, rendering it immobile.

Seeing Gaal control Deliora so easily, Lyon was filled with disbelief.

How is it possible….

How could there be such a powerful mage?!!

However.

The very next second, a deafening explosion echoed.

Deliora, using magic roars, smashed through the surrounding rocky hands to break free.

Lyon's face displayed an expression of "as expected."

He knew that this kind of monster couldn't be killed with regular means; only the powerful magic from Ur's magic book could resolve it.

Ur was the strongest!

Ur observed Deliora breaking free and spoke: "Ordinary elemental magic is nearly useless. Deliora's magical resistance is too high, coupled with its immense magical power, making effective attacks very difficult."

Gaal lightly responded: "I know. I just wanted to test this guy's strength. Speaking of which…"

Gaal glanced at Ur's leg, magically repaired with ice, his expression becoming strange: "Do all ice mages like to lose a leg?"

Ur looked puzzled: "Huh?"

She glanced down at her foot.

Her shape magic… shouldn't look ugly, right?

Gaal shook his head and used his psychokinesis to feel the surroundings.

Then, debris from the ruined area began to levitate.

A small, blood-stained leg floated over.

Due to excessive blood loss and the cold weather, that severed leg had turned a sickly white.

Gaal stroked his chin and looked toward Ur: "Do you need it reattached?"