A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Although the last one didn't really work...

Including the first 'Kira soldier' ​​she defeated, she was surrounded by ten in total. These ten machine soldiers all evolved in different ways, meaning Ultear possessed ten significant and undeniable flaws!

"I have so many weaknesses?!"

Ultear was shocked. As one of the best among the new generation of mages, she always thought she was excellent, even better than 95% of mages. She never expected to be belittled like this by a group of robots.

Ultear can accept that she is weak and slow, and she can also accept that she has a bad temper and is obsessed with beauty, skincare, clothes and bags, but isn't being lazy and gluttonous a bit too much?

"I, Ultear, am one of the role models of a new generation of mages who work diligently for the organization, go to great lengths for my friends, and traveled thousands of miles to the Western Continent to resolve the war crisis for the survival of the Kingdom of Fiore!!"

Urutia was indignant, extremely indignant: "The words 'lazy and gluttonous' have absolutely nothing to do with me!!"

A massive torrent of magic surged forth, and time, like the coldest and most merciless carving knife, swiftly left indelible marks on the mechanical soldiers before them.

*Smack!* *Thud!*

After metal oxidizes and rusts, it loses its original activity and function, becoming a pile of semi-weathered scrap iron before falling to the ground with a heavy thud.

"Ice-Crafted Rose Garden!!"

Ice-like thorns and roses rose from the ground, their blooming purple and white flowers reflecting the sunlight from the sky, making Urutia, who stood among them, appear as delicate and beautiful as the roses.

Ultear truly lives up to her reputation as Ul's daughter; her talent in ice magic is exceptionally high, far surpassing that of Gray and Leon in this aspect alone.

"In battles between mages, magic power is the most important factor for victory! How could fire magic of this level possibly be my weakness?"

Looking at the mechanical soldiers lying on the ground, unable to get up again, Ultear snorted coldly, let out a haughty mocking sound, and swayed away.

……

"Hmph! Being defeated by me proves that these guys' analysis was wrong! Greed, lust, arrogance, and despicable shamelessness—none of that exists!"

On the street, dozens of mechanical soldiers were piled up like a small mountain. Kira stood on it with one foot higher than the other, his hands clasped in front of him, looking triumphant.

"I'm a respectable person!"

Chapter 543 Mechanical 'Four Horsemen'

Outside the mechanical town, on a vast plain, stands a magnificent mechanical castle.

High above the castle, a man with disheveled hair, nails in his chin, and wearing an orange bodysuit was using binoculars to observe the battle taking place in the mechanical town.

"As expected of 'Fairy Tail'! Even with so many 'weakness-exploiting soldiers' deployed together, they still couldn't take them down. It seems that Ishgar's mages aren't as weak as I thought!"

Val Icht, the mechanical alchemist of the Twelve Shields of the Alvarez Empire, let out an arrogant laugh after seeing his vanguard completely defeated.

"Just a friendly reminder, don't underestimate them! Otherwise, you'll suffer a great loss!"

A figure stepped up from behind Val; it was none other than Silver, whom Kira and the others had been searching for. "They should be able to find this place soon!"

"Found this place? Let them defeat my men first!"

"Hasn't your weakness-based special effects unit already failed?"

Val chuckled dismissively: "Don't we still have those new guys?!"

A sinister smile appeared on the metal face.

A month ago, Silver finally found Val after a long journey.

Both were geniuses of the mechanical race. Although they had never met before, according to the template of the most popular light novels, such geniuses should be like old friends who have been acquainted for a long time. Even if they met for the first time, they could be regarded as old acquaintances.

As the story unfolded, Silver and Val immediately began a life-or-death exchange upon meeting.

This is a common trope in novels and comics: the protagonist will inevitably encounter a second male lead who is similar to him. Initially, they are rivals or enemies, but later they are redeemed and become allies. Examples include Naruto and Sasuke, Ichigo and Ishida, Goku and Vegeta, and even in the native world, there is Natsu and Gajeel.

Although this technique is old-fashioned, it feels very realistic because this is the Fairy Tail world.

Val's alchemy, 'Mechanical Alchemy,' can turn metal into magical weapons; Silver's magic, 'Mechanical Script,' can implant intelligent programs into magical weapons. Their abilities complement each other, much like the Doctor and the Hermit in the neighboring game 'Eden Star Origin.'

After a friendly exchange, they did not continue their love-hate relationship, but instead chose to shake hands and make peace, and work together for development.

"We're all machine race, we're all from the same family, what's there to be upset about? Continuing to fight will only make humans laugh at us for not being united. You don't want to hear things like, 'Just a mere machine race, with such a small population, and still fighting each other,' do you?"

With this in mind, they began their collaboration: one crafted the weapons, and the other implanted the programs. In just one month, they created a number of highly destructive and self-contained intelligent guns, cannons, sniper rifles, bullets, and other weapons.

In their vision, these weapons would usher in a new era! They would shine in future wars, proving their capabilities and demonstrating the power of the mechanical race to the world.

As for whether this war is between the Kingdom of Fiore and the Alvarez Empire, or between Ishgar and Aragitasia, they no longer care, since these weapons will sell well in the end!

But these new concept weapons are not their biggest achievement in the past month or so. Their biggest achievement is the creation of a new type of intelligent machine!

Before Silver arrived, Val had a mechanical puppet that could be connected to his own consciousness. It was a robot with a chestnut head, long arms, thin legs, a fat belly, and wearing a black coat. In the original Empire arc, it was this robot that led the Weakness Effect Soldiers to defeat the Thunder Gods.

But now, the mechanical puppets have been replaced. Since there are four of these second-generation intelligent robots, the two of them call them the 'Four Horsemen'. They are currently under the Val team, just like Heine and Juliet are under Irene.

The Four Horsemen were formed from the bodies of Val, implanted with the consciousness program by Silver, and then their magical construction and implantation were completed by the two of them working together. In other words, Silver is like their father, and Val is like their mother.

These intelligent robots, possessing self-awareness, the ability to use their own magic, and incredibly powerful physical hardware, are no different from the mechanical race that can use magic.

This process was a new breakthrough for both of them, in every respect.

Seeing the smile on Val's face, Silver's expression immediately darkened: "You're going to deploy the 'Four Horsemen'? We went through a lot of trouble to create them, and I had a part in them. It would be such a waste to just destroy them like this."

Val was clearly unhappy and retorted, "Do you think our new technological achievements will lose to those humans? They have the strength of the Twelve Shields?"

After their testing over this period of time, Wahl concluded that unless they encountered a mage of the Twelve Shields level, none of the Four Horsemen could defeat them!

"I have a good enough understanding of my own works. Statistically, they are sufficient to deal with most mages, but the mages of 'Fairy Tail' are an exception!"

"What do you mean?"

"All I can say is that so-called data is meaningless in front of them! This guild's strength far exceeds your imagination!"

"..."

Val fell silent. After spending more than a month together, he knew that this fellow human was always meticulous in his speech and actions, not the type to blindly boast about anyone. He was so arrogant that he didn't even put the Twelve Shields in his eyes. The current sense of apprehension was really too strange, which meant that these humans who broke into the mechanical town were indeed extraordinary.

But he still wouldn't give up!

"Whether what you're saying is true or false, I'll find out by trying!"

"...If it breaks, you'll have to pay for it!"

"Okay, okay...you're so long-winded!"

Val waved his hand impatiently and gave the order to repel the enemy.

……

When Kira finished showing off and got off the corpse of the special effects soldier, he found a very strange-looking face walking towards him.

This is a robot that is neither too tall nor too short, neither too fat nor too thin, and is very standardized. It has all four limbs but no facial features. Its whole body is made of a white metal and is completely integrated.

Even though the other party has no eyes, ears, or mouth, Kira has no doubt that this guy can see him, hear his voice, and communicate with him.

Sure enough, as the robot approached, a clear electronic voice emanated from it: "I am one of the 'Four Horsemen' of the Vale, Faceless Man."

Kira was taken aback by the other person's self-introduction: "Faceless Man? Is there such a person in the original work? From the Val team? I don't remember that machine race having any subordinates..."

Of the Twelve Shields, only a handful brought their own subordinates when the battle began, and Wahl was among those who didn't. As for the round, chubby guy who controlled the Weakness Effect Soldiers in the original work, he was a puppet with sensory connections to Wahl.

"I have come to repel you on my master's orders!" The faceless man's voice was icy cold, devoid of any emotion, and it was impossible to tell where the voice came from.

"Repel me? You're quite the talker!"

Kira remained unfazed by No-Face's attitude, showing no sign of tension at the unexpected appearance of an enemy. Instead, he taunted, "Why don't you just say 'Kill me'?"

The faceless man didn't respond. Although it had been implanted with an intelligent program and its intelligence had been awakened, it was still just a little kid who was a dozen days old. Its thoughts were not rich enough to support its rant.

Kira was slightly disappointed by Kira's silly appearance; it was really not in his style to not have a verbal exchange before the battle.

Kira's provocation was met with a response. A strange magical fluctuation suddenly emanated from the Faceless Man, followed by white magical energy that swirled around him. As the magical energy completely enveloped him, he transformed into a humanoid ball of white light.

A dozen seconds later, the light slowly faded away.

The faceless man who reappeared has now become a faced man.

That's what Kira looks like.

Chapter 544 Transformed Mechs: Mages, Times Have Changed!

There's an old saying: You can find at least three people in this world who look exactly like you.

Kira knew this all too well; since he came into contact with magic, he had faced opponents who looked exactly like him many times.

Dispel was the first; he was his counterpart in Edolas, and he was born looking like that. Gemini Celestial was the second; although magic couldn't be replicated, his appearance was unmistakable. And now, this shameless and faceless guy has obviously used magic to transform himself into his own appearance.

Is my perfect, flawless handsome face something that can be desecrated by anyone?

That's a complete blunder! Ugh!

Looking at the face that captivated countless young girls, Kira grinned maliciously, clenched his fist, and walked up to her.

……

At the same time, the others also encountered their own opponents.

A nearly two-meter-tall steel mech, trailing two plumes of white smoke, descended from the sky with a slight rumble and landed steadily in front of Erza.

The steel mech is nearly two meters tall, with its body mostly gold and silver. Its arms are two blades that gleam with a cold light and look extremely sharp. There are three rows and five columns of small bullet holes on each shoulder. The lethality and accuracy are unknown, but they should not be lower than those of bullets on the market. Under its feet are fire-powered jets and small thrusters for flight, which can ensure that this steel mech can move at high speed over different combat distances.

"This is……?!"

Erza was stunned. Her rich combat experience told her that the machine in front of her was very different from the mass-produced special effects soldiers she had seen before, and its strength was clearly not on the same level.

"Mechs...a new enemy? No matter what kind of opponent comes, it's useless against me!!"

Thinking of this, Erza felt a surge of fighting spirit: "Change gear, Flying Armor, Thunder Emperor's Spear!"

With a soft shout, the battle began.

The two figures didn't exchange many words; the rising magic and hostility had already established their opposing stances.

Whoosh!!

The speeding steel body whipped up a gust of wind, wielding its sharp blade to slash at Erza without wasting a single moment; Erza, clad in her flying armor, was equally astonishingly fast, her taut and agile body creating a whirlwind, her Thunder Emperor Spear crackling with golden electricity, adding three more points of power to its sharp tip.

clang!!