CHAPTER 502: TRUTH

"We aren’t the Lucy and Natsu you know," the blonde girl said calmly. "But we are Fairy Tail in this world, and we’re only here because we accepted a job."

When "Lucy" said that, the group quickly caught on. It was the same situation as the "Erza" they had just faced.

Before anyone could speak, "Lucy" suddenly added, "The commission came from Rhodes. He’s your friend, right?"

That name instantly changed the air.

"He’s here too?!"

"Rhodes!"

"Have you seen him?!"

Their voices grew more urgent one after another. Mira, drained of strength yet fueled by emotion, let go of Elfman and grabbed "Lucy’s" arm tightly.

"Lucy" winced slightly from the grip, but seeing Mira’s anxious face, she understood, this woman wasn’t lying.

That name clearly meant something to them.

Before she could respond, however, angry shouts erupted from the surroundings.

"It’s Lucy! Fairy Tail’s most wanted criminal, Lucy!"

"Fireball Natsu is here too!"

"Look, Mirajane and that weakling Elfman from Fairy Tail!"

"And that annoying gossip reporter too!"

"This is definitely a Fairy Tail plot! Arrest them all!"

The remaining soldiers reformed quickly, raising shields and charging forward in formation.

Mira and "Lucy" glanced at each other in surprise. For a moment, both women felt like the other had brought trouble, shooting each other the kind of look only two chaotic friends could.

"Natsu" leaned out the window and yelled, "Stop dawdling! Get in already!"

There was no time for explaining anything now. "Lucy" jumped into the front passenger seat, while Mira and Elfman climbed into the back.

Gajeel casually tossed the unconscious Lily into Elfman’s arms, then leapt onto the roof of the vehicle without hesitation.

"Natsu" pulled down his goggles and grinned wildly. "Hold on tight! Especially you up top! Let’s burn some rubber!"

This vehicle was less of a Magic Four-Wheeler and more like a full-blown flame-charged war chariot. The engine howled to life, and with a thunderous roar, it launched forward, crashing straight into the line of soldiers blocking the path.

"FLAME ON!!!" Natsu whooped, slamming a switch on the dashboard.

The four wheels immediately ignited with roaring fire, blazing like miniature suns.

The heat alone forced the soldiers back.

Some brave souls tried blocking it with shields, but they were promptly struck down by the raging wheels, their armor catching fire.

Nearby teammates scrambled to extinguish the flames as their comrades flailed.

The war chariot tore through the ranks, dragging a trail of burning magic behind it, racing toward the edge of the Royal Capital.

Inside the vehicle, "Lucy" wasn’t sitting idle.

She used her long magic whip to snatch up gear from fallen soldiers as they sped past. With expert hands, she cracked open the magic cores inside and tossed a few into the energy chamber behind her to refuel the vehicle.

She pocketed the rest, just in case.

On the roof, Gajeel kept a keen eye out. Whenever he spotted someone trying to block their escape, he casually raised his hand, extending his Iron Dragon Sword and slashing obstacles aside with raw, metallic power.

Behind them, the city plunged once again into mayhem.

Meanwhile, inside the Royal Palace, the atmosphere was strangely calm.

King Faust sat lazily upon his gilded throne, gazing out with a placid smile. Around him floated several Exceeds.

Four of them were clearly elite guards, with muscular builds and intense glares.

But the most eye-catching among them was a black-and-white cat with an unusually long neck, a curled mustache, and a constantly waving right paw, like a beckoning lucky cat.

Though he looked odd, his status was no joke.

He was Minister Nadi, the State Minister of Exceed, and second only to Queen Shagotte and the Four Great Elders.

His voice, while shrill and twitchy, held undeniable authority:

"Regarding the attack on my Royal Guard Division by Captain Erza Knightwalker of the Second Magic War Unit, and the abduction of Guard Commander Nichiya, an explanation is expected," he said. "Otherwise, Queen Shagotte will rain divine punishment upon you all."

The old king gripped his scepter tightly, his knuckles whitening. He didn’t raise his head, simply sat in still silence for a moment before speaking in a deep, gravelly voice.

"Understood. I’ll order Erza’s arrest at once... and deliver Exceed the explanation it demands."

"..."

Nadi hadn’t expected the conversation to go this smoothly.

He had prepared for pushback, maybe even a full-on political clash. In fact, the real goal of this visit had been to gauge the human king’s attitude. Nadi had come ready to posture, to argue, and even to prepare for a standoff.

But Faust... Faust was too agreeable.

Was it because this matter was too grave? Or had the king been offended by his subordinate’s actions and was looking to save face?

Nadi couldn’t figure it out.

Still, it showed that Queen Shagotte’s reputation alone was enough to pressure the Royal Capital. That kind of deterrence could ease the tensions back home, and that was good enough for now.

"We’ll take our leave, then."

Nadi didn’t wait for the king’s response. With a flap of his wings, he soared from the audience chamber, his four elite guards following him in formation. Together, they flew back toward the floating kingdom of Exceed.

Behind them, King Faust’s expression darkened.

He lifted his scepter and slammed it down with thunderous force. The impact echoed through the chamber, sending a ripple of cracks across the polished tile floor.

Outside, the soldiers posted nearby immediately rushed in, kneeling for orders.

"Arrest Erza," the king growled, his voice sharp as broken glass. "And ready the airship."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Though startled, the guards did not hesitate. They saluted quickly and ran to execute his commands.

...

Rhodes and his companions were preparing to make their move toward the Royal Capital. But despite the urgency, their spirits were unusually low.

On one hand, everyone was physically worn out.

The Moon Drip operation, followed by relentless battles and a narrow escape, had left the team running on fumes.

But more than exhaustion... it was what they’d learned last night that had shaken them most.

They’d captured Nichiya, commander of Exceed’s Royal Guard.

At first, Rhodes believed this strange cat knight might hold high-level intelligence, possibly secrets behind the Exceed mission, the transmission magic that affected Carla, and the reason behind the supposed order to eliminate Dragon Slayers.

So after asking Lucy to rest, he turned to Gemini.

Gemini’s ability to read and mimic memories was invaluable.

What they discovered, however, was... not what anyone expected.

Commander Nichiya’s position was indeed high, comparable to that of Minister Nadi. So he knew many truths hidden from the public.

And the first truth?

There never was a mission to kill the Dragon Slayers.

"What?" Carla stared at Gemini in disbelief, her eyes wide, tail stiff. "That can’t be true..."

Even Happy’s parents couldn’t believe it.

They clearly remembered when the Exceed army took their egg away six years ago. They’d been told it was for a righteous mission, to save their world by defeating monsters from Earth Land.

It was a painful sacrifice, but they believed in the cause.

But Gemini calmly relayed what it saw in Nichiya’s memories:

"It wasn’t about monsters. The Queen had foreseen a prophecy, that Exceed would one day be destroyed by humans. She believed they couldn’t resist humanity by force. So she devised a secret evacuation plan. One hundred Exceed children... sent across the dimensional rift to Earth Land. Not as soldiers. But as refugees."

Lucy, who had been quietly listening, asked with a puzzled expression, "Wait... I thought the Queen could control the life and death of all Exceed? If she had that kind of power, how could she lose to humans?"

Gemini paused for a second before answering, its tone unusually serious.

"Because that power... doesn’t exist."

It turned to Carla and the others. "The so-called ’life and death authority’ was a fabrication. A myth created to keep Exceed united and under control. The Queen’s real ability is prophecy magic, limited in scope and vague at best. The truth is... even though Exceed have magic power, their total strength is nothing compared to the human world’s military forces. In the beginning, many Exceed were hunted down by humans because they had magic."

"Many years ago, the Four Elders crafted a plan based on Shagotte’s prophecy. They pretended she possessed divine magical powers, convincing the humans to revere her, and by extension, the entire Exceed race, as gods. Only then did Exceed find peace and survival."

The room fell into a heavy silence.

From the Exceed’s perspective, what Queen Shagotte and the Four Elders did was nothing short of astonishing.

To alter the fate of an entire race with the actions of just a handful of individuals... "heroic" wasn’t even enough to describe it.

But over time, instead of working to genuinely strengthen their people, they clung to that illusion of divinity, sustaining their rule through lies. And once those lies were uncovered, the backlash would be catastrophic.

The destruction Queen Shagotte prophesied may not have been averted... only postponed. It was likely the inevitable fallout from the truth being revealed.

Carla’s brow furrowed deeply.

"If there was no such mission," she asked, "then how do you explain the images and thoughts of Edolas that keep surfacing in my mind?"

Gemini, still mimicking Second Night’s form and voice, answered calmly.

"Exceed doesn’t have any magic capable of transmitting information across great distances. And we certainly don’t have spells that implant memories into unhatched eggs."

He paused for a moment, then continued thoughtfully.

"However... based on what you’re describing, it sounds very similar to the effects of Queen Shagotte’s prophecy magic. Is it possible that what you’ve been seeing or remembering isn’t someone else’s influence at all, but rather your own prophecies being mistaken for implanted memories?"