Chapter 377 - 377: Suppressing the Third Seat
Mest Gryder's heart hammered against his ribs as the urgent magical communication flared in his mind. He was completely stunned, his eyes widening in sheer disbelief as he processed the report. What in the world is going on? he thought frantically.
He had finally managed to accomplish the monumental task of inviting the most powerful, reclusive big shots of the continent into the newly reformed Magic Council. Yet, barely an hour after formally meeting, they were already on the verge of tearing each other apart.
"Council Chairman, what is the meaning of this?!" Mest shouted as he rushed into the room. He desperately needed to de-escalate the situation before the headquarters was reduced to rubble.
Ren simply smiled, his demeanor completely relaxed despite the suffocating magical pressure filling the room. "It's nothing serious, Mest," he replied casually. "Just Old Man Wolfheim wanting to see if I, the newly appointed First Seat, am truly worthy of sitting in the Council Chairman's chair."
"This... is madness!" Mest stammered, looking between the two mages.
As one of the few who intimately knew the depths of Ren's monstrous strength, Mest naturally believed that the young man was more than worthy of leading the Magic Council. However, the older, traditional members of the Ten Wizard Saints clearly needed a physical demonstration to accept his authority.
"You don't need to worry so much. It's just a simple spar," Ren reassured him, waving a hand dismissively. "Just take us to a nearby open area so we don't accidentally level the building."
Seeing the unwavering resolve in Ren's eyes, Mest swallowed his protests. He couldn't exactly order these people around; after all, they were now his absolute superiors and the literal peak of Ishgar's magical hierarchy.
With a heavy sigh, Mest activated his spatial magic. Within moments, he teleported the group to a desolate, rocky wasteland several miles away from the city limits. He specifically chose a barren canyon to ensure their clash wouldn't cause any civilian casualties or widespread destruction.
"Woooooo!!" A guttural, earth-shaking roar erupted from Wolfheim's throat as soon as their boots hit the dirt.
His diminutive body began to rapidly expand, his bones popping and muscles bulging as thick, coarse fur sprouted across his skin. In the blink of an eye, the grumpy old man transformed into a towering, ferocious giant beastman.
This was Wolfheim's signature Beastman Magic. It operated on a similar principle to Makarov's Giant Magic, drastically amplifying the user's physical mass, raw strength, and durability to monstrous levels.
"Kid, you make the first move!" Wolfheim bellowed, his voice now a deep, rumbling growl that vibrated through the ground. He glared down at Ren, his massive fists clenched tight.
Seeing the sheer scale of the Third Seat's transformation, Ren's lips curled into a confident smirk. He certainly couldn't let his own magical aura be overshadowed by the old man's display.
[System: Initiating Take Over...]
"Full Body Take Over: Edward Newgate!!" Ren chanted, his magical power flaring wildly into the heavens. A blinding light enveloped his body, and the air grew instantly heavy with an oppressive, tyrannical pressure.
When the light faded, Ren had taken on the majestic, awe-inspiring form of Whitebeard. He now stood at a towering height of 666 centimeters, easily a full head taller than Wolfheim's massive beastman form. His chest was broad, his muscles corded like steel, and he radiated an aura that felt like it could suppress the very world.
"What kind of absurd magic is this?" Hyberion asked in absolute confusion, his refined composure cracking. He stared up at the sheer enormity of Ren's new form, completely baffled.
Makarov stroked his chin, a proud smile wrinkling his features. "It is a highly specialized branch of Take Over Magic," the Fairy Tail Master explained. "However, the entities that Ren takes over are entirely unique; he draws upon the power of Heroic Spirits from an entirely different world."
"Heroic Spirits from another world?" Hyberion repeated, his crimson eyes widening in mild surprise.
As one of the Four Gods of Ishgar, the concept of alternate dimensions wasn't entirely foreign to him. Once a mage's strength reached a certain pinnacle, the boundaries between worlds became less of a myth and more of a theoretical reality. Still, a magic that allowed a human to physically manifest and wield the power of otherworldly legends was completely unheard of.
"Old Man Wolfheim, you should be the one to make the first move," Ren's deep, booming voice echoed across the wasteland. He looked down at the beastman with a calm, challenging gaze.
"Fine! Then let me see exactly what kind of strength you, the so-called First Seat of the Ten Wizard Saints, truly possess!" Wolfheim roared.
Dispensing with any further pleasantries, Wolfheim kicked off the ground. The earth cratered beneath his massive paws as he rushed toward Ren with terrifying speed, throwing a devastating, boulder-shattering punch aimed squarely at his opponent's chest.
Ren didn't dodge. He simply raised his massive palm to meet the strike.
Thud!
A heavy, deafening smack echoed through the canyon as Ren's palm effortlessly caught Wolfheim's colossal fist. The sheer kinetic force of the impact kicked up a massive cloud of dust, but Ren's towering body didn't budge a single inch.
"What?!" Wolfheim gasped, his beastly eyes widening in shock.
He hadn't used his absolute maximum power in that strike, intending it to be a heavy probe to test the kid's reflexes. However, the fact that Ren had casually caught it with one hand was entirely beyond his expectations.
Ren released his grip, a relaxed smile on his face. "Old Man Wolfheim, you can afford to increase your strength a bit more. Don't worry, I can fully handle it."
"Good! I definitely underestimated you, kid." Wolfheim bared his fangs, a fiery competitive spirit igniting in his chest. "But next, I'm going to use my full strength. Take this!!"
As Wolfheim roared, an immense surge of dense, feral magic power condensed around his massive fists. He lunged forward again, throwing a haymaker that carried enough destructive force to pulverize a mountain.
Ren's eyes narrowed slightly. He clenched his own massive fist, instantly calling upon the power of Armament Haki. His skin turned a sleek, hardened black, radiating a metallic sheen as he stepped forward to meet the beastman head-on.
Boom—!!
The collision of their two fists created a catastrophic shockwave. The violent clash of pure, unadulterated physical power caused the solid bedrock beneath their feet to instantly shatter, spider-webbing into a massive crater.
Wolfheim felt a jolt of shock run up his arm. He couldn't believe that this young mage was actually matching his fully enhanced beastman strength blow for blow. The kid's physical parameters were genuinely monstrous!
However, rather than feeling insulted, the veteran Saint felt his warrior's blood boil. He wanted to see exactly how long this cocky kid could hold out against his relentless assault.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Ren and Wolfheim became a blur of colossal violence. One was a ferocious giant beastman, and the other a majestic titan of a man, both trading heavy, earth-shattering blows in a brutal test of close-quarters combat.
Wolfheim's beastman transformation granted him an immense reservoir of physical strength and near-impenetrable defensive power. It made him an absolute nightmare in a melee brawl. Even Makarov, when utilizing his massive Giant magic, wouldn't dare to exchange raw punches with Wolfheim head-on.
Yet, Ren's Whitebeard transformation was a walking natural disaster in its own right. Coupled with the absolute defense and offensive amplification of Armament Haki, his strikes were like falling meteors.
As the two behemoths continued to violently clash, the rocky ground around them was pulverized, turning as fragile as wet tofu under their stomping feet.
"So strong!!" Makarov, Jura, and Mest gasped simultaneously, forced to raise their arms to shield their faces from the sheer gale-force winds generated by the fighters' fists.
"Lord Wolfheim is truly living up to his reputation," Jura marveled, his eyes tracking the high-speed brawling of the giants. "He is a veteran of the Ten Wizard Saints and rightfully holds his title as one of the Four Gods of Ishgar!"
"Indeed," Makarov nodded solemnly. In his view, the level of magical density and physical force Wolfheim was displaying right now was already comparable to Hades in his prime.
"Ren is equally terrifying," Hyberion murmured, his eyes tracking the young man's flawless defensive parries. "He isn't falling behind in the slightest while fighting Wolfheim in pure physical combat."
The Second Seat was genuinely astounded to see Ren fighting the physically strongest Saint to an absolute standstill. To possess such overwhelming, unyielding strength at such a young age was mind-boggling; today's youth really shouldn't be underestimated.
"Ren... no, the Council Chairman hasn't even used his true strength yet," Jura stated calmly, crossing his arms over his chest.
As someone who maintained a relatively close relationship with the Fairy Tail guild, Jura was far more familiar with the true depths of Ren's abilities than the other Saints. He had witnessed this exact towering form before.
"During the guild war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord, Ren utilized this very form to completely decimate Jose Porla," Jura explained. "He absolutely crushed the Seventh Seat of the Ten Wizard Saints without breaking a sweat. That was when Ren truly began to make a terrifying name for himself."
"What?!" Hyberion blurted out, his stoic demeanor breaking. He stared at the cratered battlefield in disbelief. This apocalyptic brawl wasn't even Ren's true strength?!
Just as Hyberion was still reeling from the shock, the dynamics of the battlefield violently shifted. Ren's muscles visibly tensed as he suddenly began to exert significantly more power.
Wolfheim immediately felt the oppressive spike in pressure. The beastman tried to brace himself, but it was too late.
Boom—!
With a single, explosive thrust of his blackened fist, Ren struck Wolfheim squarely in the chest, sending the massive beastman skidding backward across the torn earth.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Wolfheim's massive feet dug deep trenches into the ground before he finally managed to halt his momentum. He looked up at Ren, a flash of undeniable disbelief lingering in his beastly eyes. He had actually been overpowered and pushed back in a contest of raw strength.
"Old Man Wolfheim, I think the warm-up has lasted long enough," Ren declared, his voice echoing with absolute authority. "Next, I'm going to get a bit serious."
"Serious?" Wolfheim scoffed, though he was breathing heavily. Hearing Ren's words, the beastman immediately dismissed it as youthful arrogance. To claim that a clash of that monstrous caliber was merely a 'warm-up' before getting serious—the kid really loved to talk big!
"Come on then!" Wolfheim roared, thumping his massive chest. "Let me see exactly how strong you really are!"
"Alright then. But you'd better be careful, old man!" Ren warned, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
Buzz—!
Ren pulled his right arm back and tightly clenched his fist. Instantly, the terrifying power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit surged from his core, coiling around his hand. A translucent, spherical white halo materialized over his knuckles, vibrating with a high-frequency hum that seemed to distort the very air.
Ren threw a devastating punch straight into the empty space in front of him.
"—!"
For a split second, the world went dead silent.
Crack! Crack!!
Suddenly, the invisible fabric of space directly in front of Ren's fist shattered like a pane of fragile glass. Jagged, glowing fault lines spider-webbed through the air.
A terrifying, unstoppable force of pure kinetic vibration erupted from the epicenter, surging directly toward Wolfheim.
Crack—!
The sheer concussive force hit the ground first, instantly tearing the solid earth apart. Wolfheim's beastly instincts screamed in absolute terror, and he suddenly felt the fur on the back of his neck stand perfectly on end. Danger! This power absolutely couldn't be taken head-on!
With a burst of desperate speed, Wolfheim threw his massive body violently to the side, narrowly dodging the invisible shockwave.
Crack! Crack—!!
The shockwave tore past him, ripping into the landscape with apocalyptic fury. A massive, bottomless canyon was instantly violently gouged into the earth, splitting the wasteland in two for miles.
Everyone was left completely paralyzed, staring in stunned silence at the colossal, unnatural ravine that had just been carved into the planet's crust by a single punch.
Swallowing hard, Hyberion stared at the destruction, his voice trembling as he muttered, "What... what terrifying destructive power!!"
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