A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

The current situation is that the two sides are evenly matched, with Erza at a slight disadvantage.

Before they knew it, the battle had lasted for thirty minutes. During this time, the man and his mech changed their equipment many times and their weapons were changed more than ten times, but in the end, they were all destroyed under the fierce attack of the enemy.

clang!!!

With a metallic hum that nearly made your head spin, Erza and the steel mech simultaneously created distance between themselves.

The retreating red figure, with a few drops of sweat from the hard work glistening in the wind, was illuminated by the sunlight.

Erza was already panting heavily, her chest heaving with each breath. The constantly depleted magic, stamina, and weapons weighed on her like three mountains, causing her endless pressure.

Three minutes ago, she had already changed into the Cleansing Robe and the red and black twin blades, abandoning defense and focusing on attack, but she still couldn't quickly win the battle.

On the other side, the steel mech, after a long period of bombardment, had its shield destroyed, its twin swords broken, its bullets fired again and again until it ran out of ammunition, its iron claws shattered into pieces, and even its blade that could cut through iron like mud was cut off by Erza at the right moment and with a single blow.

At this moment, all the weapons it possessed were the two longswords in its hands, each inlaid with a magic stone.

In the ruins of the metal city, Erza wiped the dust off her face and looked at the steel mech opposite her with an extremely serious expression.

"Next, this is the final move!!"

Chapter 546 The Difference Between Humans and Machines

The magic of changing clothes isn't powerful; what's powerful is the person!

Erza is undoubtedly a prime example. Her magical 'knight' is the 'dress-up magic' that allows her to instantly change outfits and use it skillfully. Before today, she had never seen anyone with a talent that surpassed or matched her own.

But today, she witnessed it firsthand, even though her opponent wasn't human, but a steel mech.

"What you used was undoubtedly a transformation spell, probably to complement those weapons, right? Admittedly, those weapons are very powerful, but there are too many of them, making your combat less pure!"

Regardless of whether the other party understood, Erza analyzed the combat mode of the Iron Man mech, while raising both swords and assuming a combat stance she had never used before.

At this moment, she was like a pure dual-wielding swordsman, her sharpness completely concealed, and no sword intent could be seen on her body, yet she was even more terrifying than before.

Even Dispel, upon seeing it, had to admire her talent and perseverance.

The mecha also raised the two swords on its arms, which emitted magical power in white and black respectively. They were magical weapons made of magic stones inlaid with the attributes of holy light and darkness.

After half an hour of fighting, the mech in front of them had already learned 60-70% of Erza's combat skills. Now, wielding dual blades, it looked remarkably similar to Erza in the past.

Erza was taken aback, her eyes gazing at the mecha with a hint of understanding: "Is it because it's a robot that it has such a high learning aptitude?"

"But...you can't beat me!"

"My swordsmanship comes from long-term training, countless battles, and is earned with sweat and even blood. It carries my determination to win and my will to protect my family. It is fundamentally different from your swordsmanship, which is copied in a few tens of minutes and has only technique but no heart!"

The mech didn't respond, but silently pointed its twin blades at Erza, displaying the optimal combat potential calculated by the program.

It could hear Erza's words, but it couldn't understand them, because it didn't have a heart yet.

Suddenly, the two of them exploded simultaneously! The air shattered, the ground crumbled, and the audience was stunned!

As the figures clashed, four sharp blades slashed through the air, creating dozens of afterimages that were difficult to see with the naked eye, and clanging sounds echoed throughout the street.

Holding her breath and concentrating her will, Erza didn't use her eyes to see, but her heart to capture the moment of life and death. Erza felt a sense of peace within her, like a legendary mage who had mastered the Eye of the Mind, pushing her power to its limits.

At that moment, she felt that there was nothing in the world that the twin swords in her hands could not cut through!

clang!!!

With a flash of the blade, the outcome was decided.

By the time the onlookers realized what was happening, Erza had already reached the back of the mech, still holding her twin swords in a downward slashing stance; while on the other side, the mech's magical twin swords had broken, and its body had been cleaved in two at an angle.

Clang!

With a muffled thud, the agile steel body seemed to revert to a lifeless block of metal, crashing heavily to the ground. From the severed cross-section, one could see the wires, chips, and complex metal parts inside. The structure was incredibly intricate yet clearly visible. At its heart, a sphere, presumably the mecha's core, flickered with golden electricity and crackled.

"it's over!"

Erza took a breath, wiped the dust and wounds off her body, and looked at the steel mech on the ground, her eyes revealing a complex expression of sighs and gratitude.

"It's...it's over..."

"That human won? That's amazing!"

"Was that a robot soldier? Why were they fighting in the street?"

"Perhaps Lord Val is experimenting with a new type of soldier. Let's just stand here and watch, and not go any closer!"

……

Inside the mechanical dollhouse, four or five different Weakness Effect Soldiers lay sprawled on the ground, their bodies battered and bruised, their steel bodies either crushed or charred black by intense flames, completely incapacitated.

When Natsu finally took Lucy down from the ropes, her legs were numb, and so was her heart.

No matter which girl it is, being suspended in the air in such a shameful position for tens of minutes, while enduring the soldiers playing with her body with certain props, with her two best friends right next to her, yet heartlessly ignoring her humiliation and only knowing how to fight with others, would not be in a good mood.

Not to mention, after finally defeating the enemy, they still have to endure being toyed with by their two friends...

In short, Lucy is in a very bad mood right now, a really bad mood!

"Lucy... don't be angry anymore..."

"That's right... I'll treat you to dinner later!"

Despite Natsu and Happy's desperate pleas, Lucy turned away angrily and snapped, "You two, don't talk to me!"

Her face was still flushed, and her heart was pounding. She had clearly been through a lot. In addition, her body felt cold, which made her very uncomfortable. This was due to sweating and the cold weather, not any other reason.

Lucy Heartfilia had never suffered such humiliation in front of others in her entire life!

"It was one thing that you didn't save me before, since those enemies evolved to target your weaknesses and were indeed difficult to deal with; but after defeating them, the two of you treated me like that..."

Lucy grew angrier the more she thought about it, unconsciously clenching her fists. The cute pink guild emblem on the back of her hand began to tremble with the force, like a young woman who had been defiled and was furious.

"This time, I will absolutely not forgive you so easily!!"

"Eh?!?!?!"

"No!!"

Seeing that Lucy seemed genuinely angry, Natsu and Happy burst into tears, crying, "We're so sorry! We were wrong!! Please forgive us!!"

"Pleading in that voice won't work!"

Lucy snorted and turned to find the others, but she kicked a lump of iron as soon as she turned around.

"It hurts!"

This is a steel doll that is half the height of a person, roughly capsule-shaped, but flat on the bottom. Its exterior is a metallic silver-black, with two pieces of glass-colored ore serving as eyes. It has no nose, and its mouth is made up of several random cracks. Further down, white iron ore is wrapped around it in the shape of a tie.

After being kicked by Lucy, the iron doll not only did not fall down, but stood still in place.

"What is this?! A roly-poly toy? No, it's a matryoshka doll? I don't think I saw it before..."

While rubbing her sore and reddened white toes, Lucy curiously bent down to examine them closely, unaware that Natsu and Happy were kneeling behind her, begging for forgiveness and weeping.

With a gentle nudge, Natsu fell backward uncontrollably.

Glug glug...

Happy's stomach growled, and he turned to Natsu pitifully, saying, "Natsu, I'm hungry..."

"Let's go eat!" The simple-minded Natsu completely missed Happy's hint and just grinned.

Just then, a tremendous force suddenly erupted from beneath the iron doll, which then leaped up and slammed into Lucy's face!

Lucy: "!!"

"Danger!!"

At the critical moment, Natsu acted in time, grabbing Lucy's collar with his right hand and throwing her behind him, shielding her with his own body. At the same time, he engulfed his left hand in flames and delivered a powerful punch to the Iron Doll!

Boom! ! !

Flames exploded, whipping up a hurricane-like dance and leaping, while a deep, muffled thud echoed within the mechanical dollhouse.

To save Lucy, Natsu didn't hold back much with this punch, but even with such a powerful blow, it still failed to send the small iron doll flying, and didn't even leave a fist mark, demonstrating its formidable defensive capabilities.

"Natsu!!"

"I'm fine!"

Natsu's face was grim, his gaze extremely serious. "I can sense a special magical power, very similar to those robots from before. It's coming for us!"

Lucy and Happy stared in shock at Natsu, who had just uttered those words: When did this guy become so intelligent?! Is this really Natsu?

Seeing his two closest companions looking at him with expressions that seemed to have completely shattered his worldview, Natsu was so angry he jumped up and down, his temper rising rapidly: "What kind of looks are those?!"

"No...it's nothing..." ×2

In fact, Natsu is only slow-witted when it comes to everyday life and emotions; when it comes to things related to battle, he is quite perceptive.

Snapped!

With fists and palms wreathed in flames clashing in front of him, Natsu stared at the iron doll that only reached his waist and said sternly, "I don't care if you're a machine or a doll. If you attacked Lucy, you're my enemy!!"

"Eh?!" Lucy blushed and her heart raced.

Habi chuckled: "They're having an affair~"

Chapter 547: The More They Fight, the Stronger They Get

In the Alvarez Empire, there is a love story that is told like this.

The man and woman were childhood sweethearts, growing up together. Later, the man traveled to Ishgar, and missing his lover back home, he began carving wooden dolls, pouring all his emotions into them. Each doll he carved was larger than the last. Years later, he returned to his hometown and gave the dolls to his lover, and thus, the Matryoshka doll was created.

One month ago, at the Mechanical Research Institute.

"Hey, hey, hey... what are you talking about? Didn't you say the 'Four Horsemen' were intelligent mechanical soldiers leading a new era? Why are you making them look like matryoshka dolls, something that appeared hundreds of years ago? I don't know what's going on with Ishgar, but in the Alvarez Empire, even children don't play with these things anymore, okay?"

Steam billowed from his head as he complained to Silver about his sketches of the 'Four Horsemen'.

Silver simply smiled upon hearing this and said calmly, "According to the data I collected in Ishgar, there is a mysterious connection between the appearance and the magic used by those powerful mages. It's a mystery that even I can't figure out."

"Although this is unfounded, I have a feeling that if the mechanical soldiers' appearance is designed to match the magic they use as closely as possible, it will have unexpected effects."

Wahl looked completely bewildered and couldn't help but retort, "Huh?! Do you want to hear what you're saying?! We're a machine race, the only things we can trust are machines and technology, right?! Why would you believe a baseless speculation?!"