What were language and writing?
They were the means by which intelligent beings conveyed information and gave definition to everything in the world—the accumulated expression of their knowledge and civilization.
Humans and demons had their own languages.
Dragons did as well, as did Celestial Spirits.
Every intelligent race possessed some form of language and writing unique to itself.
And Word Magic was magic that drew upon exactly those things.
Magic itself was simply a method of harnessing the energy of the world, one of the clearest manifestations of civilization.
And what could possibly represent civilization better than language and the written word?
Compared with Word Magic, every other form of magic was practically as crude as a caveman swinging around sticks and stones.
Yes.
Exactly.
“Word Magic is the strongest!”
Everyone stared at Noah.
What was he even talking about?
Why had he suddenly become so passionate?
Had somebody said something that offended him?
Ultear was even more bewildered than the others.
“Ahem… you…”
Her cheek hurt like hell.
It was definitely going to swell.
More importantly, she simply could not understand the way this man’s mind worked.
Why had he suddenly attacked her?
Wasn’t the normal procedure supposed to involve a little conversation first, confirming each other’s intentions, showing off a few spells, and then starting the fight?
Noah looked thoroughly unimpressed.
“What does it matter? Your ultimate goal is to control Deliora. It’s not like our objectives are the same.”
Ultear’s expression darkened.
“Hmph! I was careless just now. If we try that again—”
“You’ll still lose.”
Noah answered with complete confidence before she could finish.
Ultear’s eyebrow twitched.
‘This bastard!
Can he let anyone finish a sentence?’
Noah had no interest in whatever she was thinking.
Right now, he was in the mood to demonstrate exactly what Word Magic could do.
“Slow!”
“Heavy Pressure!”
“Weakness!”
“Magic Drain!”
With a casual sweep of his hand, four debilitating effects descended on Ultear at once.
A tremendous pressure immediately settled over her body.
It felt disturbingly similar to the Gravity Magic wielded by Grimoire Heart’s deputy commander, Bluenote Stinger.
Her limbs became so heavy that even the smallest movement turned into a struggle.
At the same time, weakness flooded through her entire body.
Her movements slowed as though she had been caught in her own time manipulation, every attempt to shift her footing taking far more effort than it should.
Worse still, her magic power began draining away at an alarming rate.
Even circulating magic through her body became difficult, and for a moment her transformation nearly collapsed altogether.
The effects lasted for nearly a full minute before Noah finally released them.
“So your Arc of Time can’t affect magic once it’s been applied directly to a living body.”
He nodded as though confirming a theory.
“Which means Giant Magic is one of your natural counters.”
‘Giant Magic?’
Ultear vaguely remembered that Fairy Tail’s master used something like that.
She had never been the type to let an insult pass unanswered, however, and quickly recovered enough to sneer.
“Didn’t you just tell your companions not to reveal their abilities to an enemy? Are you sure it’s wise to demonstrate your own magic so openly?”
Of course he was demonstrating it openly.
How else was he supposed to impress everyone?
“This is only one application of Word Magic,” Noah replied without missing a beat.
“Do you really think I’d reveal my trump cards that easily?”
He gave her a knowing look.
“Besides, how do you know I’m not deliberately showing you these abilities because I want you to plan around them?”
Noah had made that up on the spot.
Ultear believed every word.
“You really are devious. For a moment, I almost thought you were the one from a Dark Guild.”
Noah remained completely unbothered by the jab.
If they were being technical about it, Fairy Tail was halfway to being a Dark Guild itself.
Several of its founders had learned magic directly from Zeref.
Hades, the master of Grimoire Heart, had once been Fairy Tail’s second guild master.
Looked at from that perspective, they were almost one big extended family.
Then there were Fairy Tail’s Three Great Fairy Magics: Fairy Law, Fairy Glitter, and Fairy Sphere.
Each was absurdly powerful, and the offensive ones were certainly not designed with enemy survival in mind.
Add the guild’s routine disregard for the Magic Council, along with its habit of destroying public property whenever its members went out on jobs…
But they were absolutely the good guys.
After all—
We’re Fairy Tail.
After a moment of silence, Noah simply pretended he had not heard Ultear’s remark and resumed lecturing his three younger guildmates.
“Every magic has a weakness. There is no spell in this world without a counter.”
Gray, Cana, and Loke nodded.
“The more powerful the magic, the greater the price or limitation attached to it.”
“Mm… right…”
Like an overworked teacher desperately reviewing important material with students the night before an exam, Noah began throwing out one piece of combat advice after another.
The others exchanged looks.
Eventually, they decided that since they were waiting for Moon Drip to finish anyway, they might as well listen.
They all sat down to rest while Noah continued his lecture.
Cana naturally started drinking.
“…And rule number one hundred, which is also the most important!”
Noah raised a finger solemnly.
“A good magical weapon can completely turn the tide of battle and transform certain defeat into victory. And the price of obtaining that kind of power is nothing more than a tiny amount of money! So never lose sight of what truly matters just because you’re too attached to your wallet!”
Noah finished the combat handbook he had improvised on the spot and felt immensely proud of himself.
‘Look at that.
This is how you get stronger!’
‘Most people would never receive wisdom this valuable. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Why aren’t you all taking notes?’
Then he turned around.
His expression froze.
“What are you people doing?”
Not one of them looked remotely like they had been listening.
Lyon was leaning against a boulder, staring up at the sky—or more precisely, at the Moon Drip he had spent years longing to complete.
His three followers had regrouped around him.
They were not important.
What mattered was everyone else.
Gray sat silently on the ground with his head lowered, lost in thoughts Noah could only guess at.
Cana and Loke were drinking together, and judging by the flush spreading across both their faces, they were already well on their way to getting drunk.
As for Ultear…
Noah looked around.
‘Wait.
Where did she go?’
So he really had spent all that time lecturing them for nothing?
Cana noticed him looking and cheerfully raised her bottle.
“Hey, Noah! Want a drink?”
‘Are your card pouches just full of alcohol?’
Still, Noah had talked long enough that he really was thirsty.
He accepted the beer Cana offered and drained it in one go.
Cool relief spread through him immediately.
“The ritual’s almost complete!”
A sudden shout drew everyone’s attention upward.
Noah stood.
“Come on. Let’s go down and take a look.”
One by one, the others made their way into the lower levels of the ruins.
None of them noticed Noah lingering behind for a few moments and quietly tampering with the Moon Drip.
What was he doing?
Collecting some, obviously.
This was a substance capable of dispelling virtually any magic.
Of course he was going to gather as much as he could and preserve it for future use.
Something that useful was bound to come in handy sooner or later.
Before long, everyone had gathered at the bottom of the ruins.
Violet light streamed through the opening high above them, pouring over Deliora’s frozen body like luminous liquid.
Then—
“ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRR!!!”
A monstrous howl shook the entire ruin.
The demon that had remained trapped in ice for ten years finally revealed its fangs.
As its roar thundered through the structure, the ice created by Iced Shell began to melt beneath the power of Moon Drip, dissolving as though exposed to overwhelming heat.
The prison had not yet fully disappeared, yet violent roars were already reverberating from within the shrinking ice, powerful enough to make the entire ruin seem to tremble.
This was Deliora.
The demon that had once terrorized the northern lands.
The monster so powerful that even Ur had been unable to defeat it and had instead sacrificed herself to seal it away.
After years of preparation, before the eyes of everyone gathered there, Deliora was finally about to awaken once more.
End of Chapter 18