Chapter 240
After successfully bringing this world’s Fairy Tail into the plan, Marshall had only one thing left that he wanted to do.
He was extremely curious about the Marshall of Edolas.
So he asked Lucy to lead the way.
If another version of himself existed in this world, Marshall wanted to meet the boy face-to-face and find out exactly how someone with his name had ended up becoming the most famous rapper on the continent.
The group split up again, with Marshall taking both Lucys to another city in search of the superstar Marshall Heartfilia, better known across Edolas as Eminem.
Two years had passed, and Edolas’s Marshall Heartfilia had gone from an astonishing young musical prodigy to the most popular and influential rapper in the entire world.
His albums sold everywhere.
His concerts filled enormous arenas.
Nobles paid ridiculous amounts of money for private performances despite living in constant fear that something they said would end up in his next song.
In a certain sense, this Marshall’s accomplishments were even more impressive than his own.
Their private meeting went fairly smoothly.
The only awkward part was that the moment Edolas Marshall saw his "two sisters," his eyes widened in terror and he immediately turned around and tried to escape through the nearest door.
"Marshall!"
Lucy barked his name.
The famous rapper who could stand before tens of thousands of screaming fans without flinching froze on the spot.
Then, very slowly, he turned back around.
"...Hi, Lucy."
Marshall watched the entire exchange in stunned silence.
So this was the terrifying lyrical genius whose songs supposedly insulted politicians, nobles, rival musicians, critics, and occasionally his own audience?
He looked ready to apologize for breathing too loudly!
Apparently, Edolas Marshall was absolutely terrified of his older sister.
Still, regardless of everything else, this world’s Marshall spoke, thought, and behaved much more like an actual fourteen-year-old boy should.
Marshall secretly examined his counterpart’s body, soul, and memories.
Nothing seemed abnormal.
This guy was truly was a completely different person.
Just as his biological sister Lucy had described, Edolas Marshall was genuinely a good kid.
Ever since childhood, he had always listened to his mother.
Whatever she told him to do, he did without complaint or rebellion.
The contrast with his public image was almost ridiculous!
Onstage, Eminem could spend five uninterrupted minutes verbally dismantling another human being while rhyming words Marshall hadn’t even known could rhyme.
At home, his mother could tell him to finish his vegetables and he would obediently reply, "Yes, Mommy."
Marshall didn’t know whether to laugh or feel offended on behalf of his own name.
As for his absurd musical talent, Edolas Marshall explained that songs simply appeared in his head from time to time.
Sometimes it was a melody.
Sometimes a beat.
Sometimes whole strings of complicated rhymes arrived so suddenly that he had to grab the nearest piece of paper before they disappeared.
All he did was write them down.
He didn’t even consider himself some kind of musical genius.
"So all those songs just... appear in your head?"
"Pretty much."
"And the rhymes too?"
"Usually."
"The incredibly complicated ones?"
"Yeah."
"The ones where you somehow rhyme half an entire sentence with another sentence?"
Edolas Marshall looked embarrassed.
"...Is that difficult?"
Marshall stared at him.
For the first time since arriving in Edolas, he felt personally insulted by the universe!
Becoming famous, earning a fortune, and gaining worldwide recognition hadn’t changed the boy much either.
His mother controlled most of the money he earned, while nearly everything that remained under his personal control was donated to charity.
According to him, famous people had a responsibility to give something back to society.
His dream was world peace.
His greatest problem was having too many female fans!
And he had developed a serious fear of older sisters.
The kid was kind, obedient, filial, humble... and perhaps not particularly bright.
Marshall’s feelings became increasingly complicated.
This boy could walk onto a stage, verbally slaughter another rapper in front of fifty thousand people, walk offstage, donate the prize money to an orphanage, then hurry home because his mother had told him not to stay out late.
What kind of bizarre character setting was this?
The counterparts between these two worlds generally seemed to differ from each other in one way or another.
But this world’s version of himself was practically his complete opposite in personality.
Those mysterious songs that appeared in the boy’s mind had allowed him to accomplish incredible things.
Without them, perhaps he never would have become the person he was today.
Marshall still couldn’t understand why songs that should have belonged to the fragmented memories of his previous life had somehow entered the mind of his Edolas counterpart.
Maybe something unusual had happened during Marshall’s own transmigration.
Perhaps that was also why his memories hadn’t awakened until he was six years old, while fragments of knowledge had somehow slipped through the connection between worlds and ended up inside another Marshall.
That possibility was disturbing enough.
What bothered him even more was how complete some of those fragments seemed to be.
Marshall himself couldn’t remember most of those songs accurately enough to reproduce them, yet Edolas Marshall somehow possessed the melodies, rhythms, flows, and lyrics almost perfectly.
He had even adapted certain references to fit Edolas.
Apparently, no one in this world had ever questioned why a fourteen-year-old boy possessed such an astonishing vocabulary for insulting people.
Marshall couldn’t be certain what had happened.
But one thing was becoming obvious.
The connection between these two worlds was deeper than he had originally imagined.
...
While Marshall went to meet his counterpart, Carla took the other two cats and flew toward the floating island where the Exceeds lived.
She wanted answers about the memories that had haunted her since birth.
And there, she met the two strange-looking cats from those memories.
One had an unusually long face.
The other somehow looked like a feline version of Blue Pegasus’s Ichiya.
The two Exceeds explained the supposed privileges that came with being "angels," along with what they claimed was the "truth" behind Carla and the other kittens being sent to Earth Land.
According to them, the young Exceeds had been dispatched with a specific mission.
They also announced that the Queen herself wished to meet Carla and Happy.
But Carla and Happy refused to believe such an absurd explanation.
Overwhelmed, the two ran away in tears.
The other Exceeds immediately cried out that they had "fallen from grace" and tried to chase after them.
That was when Natsu and Wendy suddenly appeared and blocked the way.
"Do you not fear the Queen’s judgment?!"
The Exceeds shouted as they charged at Natsu.
Unfortunately for them, Natsu couldn’t have cared less about any of that.
One punch per cat.
That was all it took.
He knocked out the entire Exceed force by himself.
They were almost pitifully weak.
To the Exceeds, Natsu immediately became a terrifying demon.
The surviving cats huddled together in fear, trembling as they stared at him.
Natsu didn’t bother with them any further.
After throwing out a few threatening remarks, he hurried off to find Happy.
Unfortunately, many residents of the royal capital witnessed Natsu leaving the floating island.
And what they saw gave them hope.
Could it be... that the mighty Exceeds had defeated that terrifying demon?
Of course!
The Exceeds were the "gods" of this country!
Surely even those evil invaders from another world couldn’t stand against them!
After Fairy Tail captured the royal palace, they quickly took control of the remaining royal army and effectively seized command of the entire capital.
One outrageous decree after another was announced, terrifying the citizens, who had no idea what was happening.
At first, a few people tried to resist.
Then Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe beat them down and threw them into prison.
Meanwhile, the surrendered royal soldiers were reorganized into a new unit and sent from estate to estate confiscating noble property.
The nobles of the capital were now terrified.
Those who could were desperately trying to flee.
They couldn’t defeat the invaders.
Their future looked hopelessly dark.
So when even the faintest possibility of salvation appeared, naturally they wanted to believe in it.
Perhaps the exalted Exceeds really did possess the power to defeat these demons.
The people of the royal capital spent the entire night clinging to that beautiful dream.
Then, the next day... Marshall returned.
After hearing from Ruby what had happened with Carla and the Exceeds, Marshall laughed in disbelief.
"Boss... Boss..."
Ruby looked miserable.
"Apparently I came to Boss because I was supposed to assassinate Dragon Slayers..."
She lowered her head.
"Boss, can I still stay with you?"
The revelation had obviously shaken her badly.
She was so upset that she had even forgotten to end her sentence with nya.
Marshall immediately picked Ruby up and gently rubbed her head.
"Of course you can."
"You’re the cat I raised myself. I’m not letting you leave."
He smiled.
"Ruby, you don’t need to care about what anyone else says. I’ll take care of you for the rest of your life."
"Yes!"
Ruby immediately brightened and rubbed her face happily against him.
"I love Boss the most, nya!"
Marshall patted her head.
"Come on."
"Your boss is going to get justice for you."
Ruby blinked.
"How are you going to do that, nya?"
"Didn’t those cats already declare themselves my enemies?"
Marshall smiled.
"If they’re enemies, then there’s no reason to hold back."
He stepped forward.
"Besides, I’ve got a new move to show you."
"Meow?!"
Marshall grinned.
"Behold~"
"Transform—Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
His body rapidly expanded and transformed.
A magnificent silver-white dragon nearly a hundred meters long appeared beneath the sky.
Under countless stunned gazes, the enormous dragon spread its wings and soared upward.
The silver dragon crossed the heavens and descended upon the floating island that represented the faith of the entire kingdom.
Then it opened its enormous jaws.
With one tremendous breath inward, every Exceed on the island was dragged into the air and swallowed into the dragon’s enormous body.
After rampaging across the island and confirming that every last cat had been captured, Marshall destroyed the magic array keeping the island afloat.
Then he casually hurled the entire island toward the outskirts of the capital.
"BOOOOOOM——!!!"
The floating island crashed into the earth.
The resulting earthquake shook the entire royal capital.
And with that impact, the hope that had only just begun to rise in the hearts of the people was effortlessly crushed.
The elegant silver dragon descended onto the roof of the royal palace.
It raised its head and unleashed a deafening roar.
Through overwhelming force alone, it announced the complete fall of the royal capital.
"Submit to me!"
The dragon’s voice thundered across the city.
"Or I will give you nothing but despair and death!"
The people of the capital stared upward with bloodless faces.
The dragon’s overwhelming power stripped away what little courage they had left to resist.
One thought spread silently through the crowd.
’Does Edolas... really have any future left?’