On the other side, in the northern part of the Ishgar Continent, the sun was gradually setting over Brago Town. Snowflakes fell from the sky, gradually covering the entire town. The residents, wearing thick cotton clothes and carrying large and small bags, hurriedly rushed out of the town with anxious expressions.
On such a cold, snowy night, venturing out represented danger, but no one dared to stay.
"Hurry, hurry! Don't worry about those!" someone shouted. "Deliola is almost here!"
"Take some food and quickly hide in the big mountains over there."
"Damn it! That cursed Deliola, how did it get led over here!"
"Don't take those heavy things! Take the food! Quickly!!!"
Panic spread as someone shouted in terror, and the already frantic residents looked back before accelerating towards the big mountains on the other side.
Deliola's massive figure appeared as a blurry outline, walking forward aimlessly, destroying everything in its path.
Gray, who had heard news of Deliola from somewhere else, rushed over to witness Deliola stepping into Brago Town.
Boom—
Flames soared into the sky as Deliola's casual blow plunged the town into a sea of fire. This scene mirrored the one in Isubone, the day Deliola destroyed the entire city, leaving Gray with nothing.
The scene resurfaced before his eyes, and hatred instantly overcame reason. Gray angrily charged towards Brago Town:
"De! Li! O! La!!!"
Gray instinctively used the Magic he had learned from Ulu, conjuring ice-blue Magic circles in his hands while rushing towards the town.
Ulu and Lyon, who had been following Gray's tracks, arrived to witness several ice spears shooting up from the nearly destroyed Brago Town, piercing Deliola's chest, which was as tall as a mountain.
Crack—
The ice spears snapped, causing almost no damage to Deliola but attracting its attention. It lowered its head to look at the little ant....
Ulu's face outside the town changed dramatically:
"Too reckless, Gray."
Without time for further instructions, Ulu shouted:
"Lyon, find a place to hide!"
Then she crossed her hands, forming an ice-blue Magic circle, aiming it at Deliola in the distance. She took a deep breath and roared:
"Ice Make: Rose Garden!!!"
Ice thickets and roses, four to five stories high, condensed and intertwined like an ice wall, spreading continuously into the distance until they reached Deliola's feet and climbed up its legs. Thick and sharp ice thickets and roses intertwined and wrapped around Deliola's entire body, which was the size of a mountain, forcing Deliola's head, which was accumulating energy in its mouth, to the side.
Whoosh—
A Magic roar, like a laser, streaked past Gray, piercing through the entire town. Then...
Boom—!!!!
The energy riot, spanning a thousand meters, almost completely destroyed the town, and the Endless Snow Mountains in the distance were bombarded into a large pit by the energy. Gray stared at the scene in a daze.
Crack!
A huge sound of ice cracking came from above. Gray suddenly woke up, raising his head to look. Deliola, seemingly covered in an ice thicket armor, roared and broke free, turning its head left and right as if looking for the source of the attack. It quickly found Ulu's location, as Ulu's powerful Magic was completely unconcealed, appearing brightly before Deliola's eyes.
Ulu's face tightened as she was targeted by Deliola:
"This is troublesome."
Just being stared at gave her a faint sense of a life-and-death threat. If she didn't handle it well, she might die here today. But Ulu didn't back down, because once she did, her two disciples would be finished here.
Facing Deliola's gaze, Ulu clasped her hands together and aimed them at Deliola, forming an ice-blue ice Magic circle in front of her:
"Ice Make: White Rose Garden!!!"
The cold air around Ulu dispersed in a whirlwind shape, forming continuously spiraling ice roses in front of her, bursting out like infinitely extending ice spears towards Deliola in the distance.
The next moment, evil energy arrived and collided with the ice Magic.
Boom—!!!
—
In the northern Ishgar Continent, under the night sky, Dragonite, like an orange-yellow meteor, streaked across the sky. A light blue Confusion energy shield enveloped its body, and Gael, sitting on Dragonite's back, didn't have a single corner of his clothes blown up at such speed. Gengar, shrunk to the size of a fist, was sleeping soundly on Gael's shoulder.
Under the dark night sky, the soaring flames in the far north became exceptionally dazzling. Gael patted Dragonite's back:
"A little faster."
Dragonite let out a low roar:
"Roar!"
Its speed increased, rushing towards the place where the flames soared.
In Brago Town, amidst the ruins, the shield supported by ice thickets was mostly shattered. Ulu was breathing heavily, pushing away the broken ice. Her right lower leg had disappeared. Ulu cast Magic, temporarily shaping an ice leg to support her body and stand up. A bitter smile appeared on her face. She had overestimated herself. She knew Deliola was strong, but she hadn't expected it to be this strong. Its extremely high Magic resistance made her Magic almost ineffective against Deliola. Not to mention Deliola's thick skin and flesh, its mountain-like body could easily break free from the ice thickets' confinement. Her usually powerful Magic, facing Deliola at this moment, was like paper. The battle was over in just a moment. Deliola crushed her Magic with overwhelming force.
Ulu braced her body, looking at her two unconscious disciples beside her, and sighed:
"It's truly despairing."
She raised her head and looked at Deliola in the distance. Ulu's eyes already held determination. Ordinary Magic couldn't even break Deliola's defense. To deal with forbidden Demons like those in Zeref's book, only forbidden techniques could be used.
At this moment, Gray woke up from his coma, struggled to get up, and the blurry figure before his eyes gradually became clear:
"U... Ulu...."
Ulu chuckled softly, walked over, and picked up Gray:
"It's okay now."
Gray, still a bit confused, suddenly felt something was wrong, lowered his head, and his eyes widened:
"Ulu... your leg!!!"
Ulu comforted him:
"It's just broken, but looking at it this way, is the shaping Magic cool?"
"Alright Gray, you take Lyon and leave first. I can't protect you both and fight it at the same time."
Gray's tears flowed continuously:
"I'm sorry... Ulu...."
"I..."
"I..."
Ulu said with a smile, stroking Gray's head:
"It's okay, Gray. If this monster is the darkness in your heart, then let me, your master, eliminate it for you. That's reasonable, right?"
Gray froze, unable to believe Ulu still considered him a disciple. It was because of his willfulness that he ran over, causing the current situation, harming Ulu like this, yet....
Lyon, who had woken up at some point beside them, struggled to get up:
"What... what are you... kidding!"
"Ulu, you are the strongest Magician!"
"What's with this look of parting ways, it's just a mere monster!!!"
Lyon looked nervous, watching Ulu expectantly. Seeing Lyon's look of shattered faith, Ulu's mouth was bitter. She opened her mouth but didn't know how to answer. She was silent for a moment and could only say:
"Lyon, this world is very big. Even on this Ishgar Continent alone, there are many powerhouses stronger than me. In the future, you can go and see the Kingdom in the West. Guys stronger than me are everywhere there."
Lyon's face was dark, and he gritted his teeth:
"What are you kidding! It's impossible for such a person to exist! Ulu, you are the strongest Magician! It's because of this that I have been training with you until now! How could the strongest you lose to a monster!"
Ulu took a deep breath:
"Lyon."
But Lyon suddenly raised his head and looked towards Deliola:
"If you can't solve it, then I will! Just a mere monster!"
"What are you kidding!!!"
Lyon roared, crossing his hands in front of his chest, a huge ice Magic circle formed at his feet. Ulu's face was slightly surprised, she looked at Lyon:
"How do you know this Magic?"
"Lyon! Your Magic Power is not enough to support this Magic, stop!"
Lyon's expression was a bit frantic:
"Why do I know? Of course, it's because I secretly learned it. It's not because you, Ulu, didn't teach me powerful Magic all this way, so I could only secretly look at the Magic books in the warehouse."
"Really...."
"Having such powerful Magic."
"How can you not be able to deal with a mere monster!"
The ice Magic circle on the ground suddenly glowed. Astonishing Magic Power soared into the sky. Forbidden Magic. 'Absolute Ice' at the cost of life. It can permanently seal the enemy in ice. Even if the Magic is dispelled, the sealed person will lose their life.
"Since Magic is ineffective against it, then I'll just seal it here forever!"
Lyon's frantic voice sounded. The astonishing Magic Power here had already attracted Deliola's attention.
Ulu raised her hand, and a blast of cold air instantly froze Lyon. She couldn't help but angrily shout:
"Didn't you flip to the back and see the cost of casting?"
Interrupting Lyon's Magic, Ulu said, frustrated:
"The cost of Absolute Ice is the caster's own life. Don't easily give up your life. I'm still here."
After speaking, Ulu sighed:
"But there's no other way now. I can only use this method to defeat it, this is what I have to do."
Ulu walked a few steps forward, blocking the way in front of Lyon and Gray, who had turned into ice. In the same posture, she crossed her hands in front of her body. A huge ice Magic circle spread out, and not only the Magic circle on the ground, but also huge ice Magic circles appeared around Deliola's body in the distance, enveloping the mountain-sized Deliola.
"Absolute...."
In the night sky, Gael, who arrived on Dragonite, saw Deliola surrounded by the ice Magic circle:
"Ah—, I almost arrived late."
Gael patted Dragonite and said:
"Dragonite, Dragon Rush!"
Dragonite nodded and roared:
"Roar!"
A dark blue Divine Dragon phantom flashed and merged into Dragonite's body. In the dark night, a blue light suddenly lit up in the sky. It struck Deliola with extreme speed like a meteor. And the huge ice Magic circle surrounding Deliola was shattered like glass by the meteor, interrupting Ulu's casting.
The next second.
Boom—!!!!
The mountain-sized Deliola was knocked back several steps by the huge impact, then, unable to control its body, it crashed to the ground. Judging from the confusion in Deliola's eyes, it didn't seem to have suffered too much damage.
Deliola's house-sized green eyes scanned left and right. It raised its giant claws, as if swatting a fly. It wanted to catch the yellow insect flying in front of it, but it couldn't catch it no matter what. Looking from a distance, Deliola was sitting on the ground, waving its giant claws wildly.
In the city, Ulu, whose Magic was interrupted, grunted, her body went limp, and she almost collapsed to the ground. But she was supported by a strange force. Ulu turned her head and saw a young man in a black Magic robe who had appeared beside her at some point, looking at her with a smile.
Seeing her look over, the young man said with a smile:
"Don't easily give up your life."
Ulu's mouth twitched. Wasn't that what she had just said to Lyon?
Suddenly, Ulu noticed the stamp on Gael's Magic robe:
"That's... Fairy Tail.... That guy's Guild."
Recognizing Gael, Ulu realized he was "The Scholar" Gael, a title given to him because he could use almost all Magic. He was also Fairy Tail's face to the outside world, besides Gildarts, and was considered a well-known figure on the Ishgar Continent. After all, being a full-element Magician is hard not to attract attention.
Gael heard Ulu's words and stroked his chin:
"That guy? Gildarts, right. Do you know where he is now?"
Makarov was stationed at Fairy Tail, Ivan went south to get the Dragon Slayer Crystal, and only Gildarts was wandering around. The only one who could wander here was Gildarts. The other members of the Guild currently don't have enough strength to go out of Fiore Kingdom to do missions.
Ulu shook her head:
"The last time I saw him was a year ago. I don't know where he is now. But now is not the time to talk about this, is it? Deliola is still there."
Ulu's expression relaxed a bit, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Gael waved his hand:
"Don't worry, I came for it. Excellent research material."
The mountain-sized Deliola, if its skin were made into Magic resistance cloaks, it would make thousands of them.
Hearing Gael's tone, Ulu felt relieved, walked over, and unfroze Lyon. Lyon hadn't recovered yet and fell to the ground.
"What... what's going on?"
Ulu lifted Lyon, who was sitting on the ground, feeling somewhat fortunate to have survived and somewhat troubled:
"No one needs to die. A stronger Magician has arrived."
She almost said her last words to Gray. But she was fortunate to have survived, and the trouble was... Lyon's belief would be shattered.
Indeed, hearing Ulu say a stronger Magician, Lyon immediately looked up and saw Gael standing there in a black Magic robe.
Lyon said in disbelief:
"What are you kidding, Ulu! He's not much older than me, how could he be...."
Lyon was instantly stunned. He saw Gael raise the Magic staff in his hand and lightly tap the ground. The earth began to tremble. Several giant hands made of rock suddenly emerged from under Deliola's feet. They grabbed Deliola's body at various joints, holding it tightly like a cage, making it unable to move.
Seeing Gael control Deliola so effortlessly, Lyon's eyes were filled with disbelief. How could this be... How could there be such a powerful Magician?!!!
However, the next second, the roar of an explosion sounded. Deliola in the distance used a Magic roar to shatter the surrounding rock hands and break free.
Lyon's face showed an expression of 'as expected'. He knew that this kind of monster could not be killed by ordinary methods, only the powerful Magic in Ulu's Magic book could solve it. Ulu was the strongest!
Ulu saw Deliola break free and said:
"Ordinary elemental Magic is almost useless. Deliola's Magic resistance is too high, coupled with its immense Magic Power, it's difficult to launch effective attacks."
Gael lightly 'hmm'd':
"I know. Just testing this guy's strength."
"Speaking of which...." Gael glanced at Ulu's broken leg, which she had reattached with ice, and couldn't help but look strange:
"Do ice users all like to break a leg?"
Ulu was a bit confused:
"Huh?"
She looked down at her leg. Her shaping Magic... it shouldn't be ugly, right?
Gael shook his head and used Confusion to sense his surroundings. Then, rocks from the ruins nearby flew up. A severed lower leg stained with blood floated over. Due to excessive blood loss and the cold weather, that lower leg was unnaturally white at this moment. Perhaps this is what is meant by 'pure white as jade'.
Gael stroked his chin and looked at Ulu:
"Need me to reattach it?"