"Hey, the people who were trapped inside the cards... have they been saved?" Sitting on the pursuing ship, Lucy suddenly spoke up, trying to break the heavy, indescribable sense of oppression lingering in the air.
And the source of that oppressive atmosphere was none other than Noel, who stood at the bow of the ship, his back facing everyone, arms crossed, with a stern and grim expression.
His entire presence radiated an inexplicable sense of danger.
"The army has already been notified... it should have been resolved by now," Gray responded in a slightly hushed voice, as if afraid that speaking too loudly might disturb Noel at the bow.
"That's good then..." Lucy muttered, falling silent again, her gaze drifting toward Natsu, who, as expected, was slumped over the ship, half-dead from seasickness.
"I can feel it..." Noel, who had remained silent since boarding the ship, suddenly spoke.
"Feel it? Feel what?" Hearing him, everyone turned their attention to Noel, who was still facing away from them at the bow.
"...An extremely sinister and dark presence... and for some reason, it also feels strangely familiar to me." Noel lifted his head, his clear gaze seemingly piercing through the vast distance, locking onto a certain blue-haired man in a black robe inside the ominous-looking tower exuding an eerie aura.
Suddenly, Natsu, who had been lying at the stern like a corpse, shot up and looked around, mumbling to himself, "What's going on? This dangerous feeling... what is it...?"
At that moment, something shocking happened—birds that had been flying in the sky suddenly dropped one after another, as if life had been drained from them in an instant, their lifeless bodies falling into the sea.
"The birds...!"
"What's happening?!"
"Ah!" Lucy inadvertently glanced at the sea and suddenly cried out in alarm.
Following her gaze, everyone turned their eyes toward the water.
Countless fish were floating belly-up on the surface, and in addition, many wrecked ships were drifting aimlessly.
"The fish too...?"
"Something is definitely not right," Juvia muttered to herself.
"This wreckage... is it from the Fiore military?" Gray noticed the emblem of the Kingdom of Fiore floating among the debris and murmured to himself.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Lucy said, her body trembling slightly at the eerie sight.
"...That tower." Noel spoke again, immediately drawing everyone's attention.
Looking ahead, they saw a bizarrely shaped tower standing in the middle of the sea, its surroundings shrouded in a dense layer of black mist.
The first impression it gave was one of eerie unnaturalness.
"That's the Tower of Heaven?"
"[Water Dome]." Juvia, the Rain Woman, suddenly cast her magic, gathering the seawater around them into a large spherical shield that completely enveloped the small boat.
From a distance, the water-covered vessel blended seamlessly with the surrounding sea, making it indistinguishable from its environment.
"Let's use this disguise to land unnoticed," Juvia said after completing the spell.
"A-Amazing..." Seeing this, Lucy couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
Noel gazed calmly through the water curtain at the approaching tower.
(So this... is the shadow that has haunted you all this time, Erza? If that's the case, then let me be the one to destroy it for you.) Clenching his hands, he made his silent vow.
-------------
Under Juvia's [Water Dome] concealment, the group quickly landed on the island.
"There are so many guards..." Gray looked grimly at the numerous sentries stationed in front of the Tower of Heaven.
While these guards weren't particularly strong by his standards, the sheer number of them was concerning.
After all, even ants could bring down an elephant.
If they caused a commotion, who knew how many more would come swarming in?
"Let's charge in!" The one suggesting this, unsurprisingly, was Natsu.
Hearing Natsu's words, Lucy immediately objected. "No! Erza and Happy have been captured. If we're not careful, we might put them in even greater danger. That would be too great a risk."
As the group debated, Noel, who had been silently observing, cast a glance at the guards of the Tower of Heaven.
Without hesitation or any attempt to hide himself, he simply stepped forward and began walking directly toward the entrance.
"Wait, Noel, you—" Lucy was about to call out to him, but before she could finish, Gray placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
She turned her head in confusion, only to see Gray shaking his head.
"Let him go. We can't stop him—Noel knows what he's doing."
"But... Noel seems different, like something's off about him." Lucy hesitated slightly.
Ever since Erza was taken, Noel had felt strange to her—completely different from his usual calm and composed self.
"Well, that's only natural." Gray's expression remained indifferent as he spoke, but his words shocked both Natsu and Lucy.
"Erza is special to Noel. He was the one who brought her into Fairy Tail in the first place."
"EH?!!" Natsu and Lucy exclaimed in perfect unison, their eyes wide in disbelief. "Erza was brought into Fairy Tail by Noel?!"
"Yeah, Natsu and Lucy, you both joined Fairy Tail after that, so you wouldn't know. Erza was brought back to the guild by Noel after he returned from a mission. That's why Erza holds a special place for Noel," Gray nodded as he explained.
"Then... what do we do now?" Lucy asked while glancing toward Noel, who had already engaged in battle with the guards in the distance.
As the group was still hesitating, Juvia suddenly emerged from the water and called out to Gray on the shore. "I found an underwater route to sneak in!"
"Really? That's amazing!" Gray said excitedly. "While Noel distracts the guards, we can use this chance to infiltrate from below!"
Hearing Gray's praise, Juvia turned to Lucy with a smug, victorious expression. "I was the one praised. Not you—me!"
"Yeah, yeah..." Lucy responded, exasperated.
"Ten minutes of underwater travel, huh..." After hearing Juvia's explanation of the route, Lucy clutched her head in frustration.
Holding her breath for ten minutes was simply impossible for a normal person.
"That's nothing," Natsu said nonchalantly.
"Yeah, easy," Gray agreed.
"Of course it's easy for you two freaks!" Lucy retorted, exasperated.
In the end, Juvia resolved the issue by using her magic to create air-filled soap bubbles.
With their breathing secured, the group took advantage of Noel's diversion and quietly dove underwater, making their way toward the Tower of Heaven.
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