Chapter 80: Don’t Lower Your Head, or the Crown Will Fall

The next morning, in the Fairy Tail guild tavern—

Makarov was watching Gray and Natsu nervously fidget around Erza's arrival at the guild while taking a small, happy sip of his drink.

"Master! Something terrible happened!!!"

"Something terrible happened!!!"

"This is bad!"

Macao and Wakaba each clutched a newspaper, panting for breath.

Makarov took a deep breath, his head suddenly growing larger, and shouted at them, "How bad could it be? Just spit it out!"

"Laxus went to…"

"To challenge Jose!"

Makarov instantly sobered up, jumping down from the bar. "What?! Where is he? Is he okay?"

He paced around the guild, anxious as a cat on a hot tin roof. "Damn it, why would he go and challenge Jose? That's way above his level!"

"Where is he now?"

Makarov himself had tested Jose's eligibility for the Ten Wizard Saints title. Makarov could beat Jose, but without one of Fairy Tail's three grand spells, Fairy Law, it wouldn't be easy. There was no way the current Laxus was a match for him.

He also knew that Jose held a deep-seated grudge against Fairy Tail. Given a chance, he wouldn't hesitate to beat Laxus to a pulp.

"We don't know!"

Makarov felt the urge to scold them, "Don't know? What do you mean you don't know?"

"Laxus left Oak Town on his own."

"So, of course, we don't know where he went."

'Whew' Makarov let out a long breath, "Good, as long as he left on his own. At least Jose didn't try to kill him."

"Master, what are you talking about?"

"Stop rambling nonsense!"

"Just look."

The event took up an entire page of the daily newspaper.

In huge letters, the headline read:

[Shocking! Laxus Dreyar Defeats the New Ten Wizard Saint, Jose Porla!]

"What?!!"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

"I must still be drunk!"

"Whoa! Let me try again!"

Natsu, Gray, and Erza looked at the old man, who was talking to himself in a comically exaggerated way, like he was some sort of fool.

"Has the Master gone crazy?"

"You could leave out the word 'gone.'"

"You're the ones who are crazy!"

With a single punch, Makarov smashed Macao and Wakaba right into the wooden floor.

"Master, you can't go around destroying the guild!"

Erza's scolding made Makarov sit up straight.

He chuckled awkwardly, "Sorry, sorry. Let's look at the newspaper instead."

Since Laxus' commotion lasted well into yesterday before Jose finally appeared, reporters quickly caught wind of the news. They gathered information from the onlookers, capturing the details—the crimson thunder that painted the sky red, the clash between the two, and how Laxus ultimately shattered Jose's Death Storm with a single punch.

No matter how hard Makarov tried to recall, he couldn't remember Laxus ever possessing anything like this red lightning.

"Impossible… Red lightning? Why didn't I know about this? And how did Laxus' magic power suddenly become so high?"

Natsu, however, had a different focus:

"Dragon Slayer? Laxus is a Dragon Slayer too? I'm going to find him and see if he knows anything about Igneel!"

"Hold it. He's different from you—he became a Dragon Slayer by implanting a Dragon Slayer Magic Lacrima. It has nothing to do with dragons."

Erza was the one who spoke up.

In fact, Erza had asked Irene and Selene about Natsu's claim of being raised by a dragon, whose name was Igneel, but they both denied knowing anything.

Selene's response only deepened Erza's curiosity: "The Fire Dragon King, Igneel, was a dragon from four hundred years ago, but he mysteriously disappeared one day."

As for whether Igneel had raised a human child, Selene had even less of an idea.

Hearing Erza mention that Laxus had implanted Dragon Slayer Lacrima, Makarov looked surprised, "Erza, how do you know that?!"

Erza shrugged, "Master, maybe you don't know Laxus as well as you think."

She held up two fingers and started explaining, "Laxus has been to the mansion twice already. The first time, he extracted the Dragon Slayer Lacrima from his body, activated the red lightning within his blood, and fused it with the thunder of the Lightning Dragon within the lacrima."

Makarov's eyes widened in shock. He couldn't imagine the kind of pain Laxus must've gone through for that. He murmured, "Extracted it…"

"Master, do you remember yesterday's strange weather over Magnolia?"

Makarov quickly caught on, "You're saying that storm… it was caused by Laxus?"

Erza nodded, "Yes, the unusual weather was the work of the Lightning Dragon King's spirit, Elexion. Laxus devoured Elexion's soul."

She sighed, exasperated, "Master, maybe you should pay a bit more attention to Laxus. How could you know nothing?"

Though Erza was still a teenager and Makarov was in his eighties, it felt as if their roles had reversed at this moment.

Makarov was left scratching his head. Thinking back, he realized he hadn't really tried to communicate with Laxus in a long time, always viewing him as a child.

But Makarov couldn't be entirely blamed for not noticing Laxus' changes.

Laxus had moved out on his own years ago, and after a particularly heated argument, Makarov hadn't seen him since. Laxus had then decided to find Aegon.

Erza rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "But Laxus has become ridiculously strong. I wonder if even Gildarts could take him down now."

The sheer magic power she'd sensed in Laxus yesterday reminded her of Fairy Tail's strongest mage, Gildarts.

"No way, Gildarts is still the strongest!" Natsu and Cana shouted in unison, loyal fans of Gildarts.

Everyone turned to look at Cana.

While they expected that reaction from Natsu, Cana's intensity was something else.

Natsu blinked in excitement, "Huh? Cana, are you really that big a fan of Gildarts?"

Cana awkwardly nodded, "Uh… yeah, I am."

Seeing how enthusiastic they were, Erza couldn't be bothered to argue.

Sure, Gildarts was strong, but compared to Irene and Selene, he fell short. She had witnessed Selene's space-warping abilities and seen Irene effortlessly manipulate the atmosphere, earth, and sea. Not to mention Aegon, whom she had rarely seen in action, but from what the others in the mansion said, he was terrifying. And Erza did know Aegon was a Dragon Slayer mage capable of partial dragon transformation.

As Erza pondered, her eyes brightened, "I wonder if he'll find this interesting. Wakaba, I'm taking this paper!"

Macao and Wakaba had bought two copies, but Erza grabbed one and headed back to the mansion.

"You could just buy your own!"

Wakaba sighed; one copy had been taken by Makarov, and now the other was Erza's—they hadn't even finished reading!

"I'll buy you a drink, put it on my tab!" Erza mounted her red horse and rode off without looking back.

"Alright! Safe travels!"

  …

"Is that all?"

After glancing at the headline, Aegon set the paper on the table, clearly unamused.

Standing nearby, Mira cast a quick glance, though her real focus was aimed slightly lower.

"Is that all? What kind of reaction is that? I rushed all the way here!" Erza pounded the table in frustration.

"Ouch!" Aegon sucked in a sharp breath, then shrugged as if it was nothing. "I heard about this yesterday, so it's hardly surprising. My acting isn't great, so I wouldn't be able to fake shock well, but thanks for coming all this way to tell me."

"Hmph! Boring. I'm leaving!" Erza grabbed the paper, gave him one last look over her shoulder, and marched off.

Mira's lips curled into a slight smile. "Aegon-sama, you call that bad acting?"

"Phew…" Watching Erza leave, Misaki peeked out cautiously, letting out a sigh of relief as she rubbed her ear.

"Why'd Erza have to hit the table so hard? My ears are still ringing."

Being a Dragon Slayer mage, Misaki's hearing was much sharper than the average person's. Erza's hard slap on the table had nearly sent her head buzzing.

That loud impact had made both her and Aegon flinch.

"Look at me—don't lower your head, or the crown will fall."

It was true; Misaki's crown added a touch of playful elegance to her appearance.

"Aegon-sama, where do you come up with these strange lines?"

Misaki shot him a teasing glare, though her expression was soft, her gaze sultry.

Since returning from Guiltina, Misaki would sneak over to find Aegon whenever she wasn't training, though it was clear she was still quite new at this.

"Mira, you should help teach her."

Misaki was about to stand to give Mira her seat, but Mira gently placed a hand on Misaki's shoulder, shaking her head.

"No need to move. We can do this together."