A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Just then, the dozens of mechanical nesting dolls in mid-air began their attack. As if they had been activated at the same time, they rushed towards Natsu and the others on the ground. Each afterimage was an attack, and they could even pass through each other while moving, so there was no need to worry about positioning.

"Danger!! Get out of the way!!"

Bang bang bang!!

The attacks rained down like a storm, each one comparable to a full-force punch from Makarov, smashing the spot where Natsu and the others stood into ruins. Fortunately, they dodged quickly and escaped unharmed.

What are you two still laughing about?! Hurry up and think of something!!

"No way?! Lucy actually asked Natsu to come up with a solution?!" Happy exclaimed in shock.

Natsu raised his head and gave a wicked smile: "Find a way?! My way is..."

"Huh?! No way? Not again?!" Just by looking at Natsu's expression, Lucy guessed what he was going to do next, and she instantly shuddered and turned to run away.

"Dragon Slayer Technique..."

"Wait...wait...!! Sachidarius, go back first!!"

Lucy ran and delivered the Sagittarius Celestial Spirit back, then turned to gauge the distance between herself and Natsu with her eyes. "Not yet, Natsu, I haven't..."

"Crimson Lotus Blade of Devastation!!!"

With a roar, Natsu conjured two unstoppable fire blades in his hands. He spun rapidly, unleashing hundreds of fire blades. The fire blades whipped up a terrifying, violent whirlwind that swept in all directions, engulfing all the afterimages of the mechanical dolls and tearing everything in the sea of ​​fire to shreds.

At the moment of the explosion, a small figure grabbed Lucy and flew rapidly into the sky.

"Phew... I'm saved!"

Looking down at the sea of ​​fire, Lucy breathed a deep sigh of relief, a sense of security after surviving the ordeal finally welling up in her heart.

Amidst the sea of ​​fire, a crystal ball engraved with strange magical patterns rolled to Natsu's feet.

"what is this?"

Natsu picked it up and examined it curiously for a moment, then brought it closer to smell it, sensing that this thing was unusual.

"Let's put it away for now."

……

Whoosh—smack! Whoosh—smack!

On another street, Kira strutted smugly, his expression arrogant, tossing a crystal ball in his hand and muttering sarcastic remarks to himself.

"They were specially copied to look like me, but they can't even unleash one percent of their power. Is this all the 'Four Horsemen' who led the era are capable of? No wonder you weren't in the Empire arc; you're all failures..."

Kira was unaware of his misunderstanding. If he had known that this was a masterpiece created by Silver and Val together, he probably wouldn't have said that...

He'll laugh even harder!

Suddenly, Kira stopped in his tracks and looked in a certain direction.

"The magic over there seems a bit strange..."

Chapter 553 Gray's Tragic Crossdressing

As the old saying goes: In an organization, there is at least one person with mediocre skills, who is just there to make up the numbers; at the same time, there is at least one person with extraordinary skills, who is there to carry the others.

That's how the Twelve Shields are. There are two people in this organization who can fly: August and Irene.

There were indeed a few weak ones, but given the premise that "the enemies in the next chapter are stronger than those in the previous chapter," and the fact that they were all facing the overpowered Fairy Tail crew, the members of the Twelve Shields weren't really that bad off.

The same applies to the 'Four Horsemen of Machines'. Since they were originally designed by Silver and Val, two mechanical beings, for team combat, they were supposed to fight together. However, they were separated to fight, so they naturally did not bring out their full combat potential.

Faceless Man is a support character among the Four Horsemen. He can use transformation and copy magic, possesses near-human intelligence, and his calculation ability is extraordinary. Thanks to the artificial magic source created for him by Silver and Wahl, he is essentially an enhanced version of the Gemini Celestial Jemini. His upper and lower limits are very high, and he has a very obvious advantage over his enemies in battle. He can deal with more than 80% of the enemies. After all, very few people can beat a version of themselves that has pushed their strength beyond its limit.

The Iron Man is a fighter among the Four Horsemen. It can use transformation magic, has a strong learning ability, and can skillfully use various magical weapons. With the powerful equipment provided by its parents, its upper and lower limits are also very high, at least with the strength of Fairy Tail S-class.

The mechanical nesting doll is the shield among the Four Horsemen, its abilities derived from enhancement magic; "large, hard, and fast" were its initial design goals. However, because it was the first to be created, it was not only technologically immature but also relatively unintelligent, struggling even to speak. Furthermore, since it was used to shield teammates from damage, its damage output was too low, making it a high-floor, low-ceiling type. If there's one among the Four Horsemen who is the most underwhelming, it's undoubtedly it.

The last of the 'Four Horsemen' is called the Modifier.

……

“I am the most indispensable of the Four Horsemen. According to you human mages, I seem to be called a Healer. My task is to repair my teammates when they are damaged.”

On the street, a girl-type robot with a loli-like appearance but eight mechanical arms on her back introduces herself while playing house with a mechanical toy in her hand.

"By the way, the principle behind fixing them is that I can mechanize and modify anything I encounter, even humans."

The girl is the last of the 'Four Horsemen', and a modder!

As she spoke, she took a step back to create some distance, focusing her gaze on her masterpiece with a satisfied expression.

They were four mechanical toys, each about the size of an arm, dressed in floral skirts—of course, the skirts were also made of metal. The four toys sat in front of a metal table, looking like they were having a cozy dinner together.

Although it was dinner, this was a mechanical place, so the food consisted of metal parts like screws and nuts.

"From now on, you'll be my little sisters. As your older sister, I'll take good care of you! Eat up, this is a delicious meal I specially cooked for you!!"

The girl's appearance is innocent, pure, and cute. If you ignore the eight mechanical arms behind her and the line "Even humans are the same," she would definitely win the hearts of countless otaku.

After all, those fat otaku only care about appearance and don't care whether she's human or machine. And if she's a fat otaku with strange tastes, eight mechanical arms might even be a plus.

Faced with the girl's request, the four mechanical toys simply sat quietly, motionless, showing no intention of eating. This was to be expected, since they were actually human, and even mechanical beings didn't eat such things.

'I was careless! I didn't expect them to have such tricks up their sleeves...'

'Wendy, don't you have a way to remove this effect?'

Sorry! The purification magic seems to be having little effect...

'Damn it... my magic doesn't work on her...'

These four female mechanical toys, who have suffered so much, are Ultear, Gray, Wendy, and Charlotte.

In the previous battle, the modder launched a sneak attack, and coincidentally, the first person she mechanized was Wendy. It makes sense to prioritize the support character in a team fight.

Without Wendy's assistance and facing this type of magic for the first time, Gray was careless and no match for her. He quickly followed in Wendy's footsteps. Although he resisted at times, all the ice weapons he created were mechanized and turned into miniature metal weapon toys the moment they touched the modifier.

Two minutes later, Urutia, who happened to be passing by, also fell victim to the attack, which is why the group ended up in their current state.

Aside from being made of metal, the four mechanized characters are similar to ordinary small to medium-sized chibi-style dolls, and their original appearances are clearly visible. As for why Gray is dressed as a woman, it's because the modifier has a girlish heart.

She only wanted a younger sister, not a younger brother.

"What's wrong? Don't you want to eat? Why won't you eat? This was specially prepared for you by your older sister!"

The girl stared at Gray with her innocent, wide eyes, her metallic pupils fixed on him: "Children should eat well so they can grow up healthy!"

"..."

A speech draft titled "The Importance of Healthy Eating to the Human Body," which was transcribed in his mind, made Gray's scalp tingle, and he mentally ranted with complaints.

What's with you, a machine race member, spouting nonsense about how certain foods are good for the human digestive system? Did you install the wrong data analysis program during installation?! Is it possible your body is malfunctioning because you've been eating too much human food? Why do you think we eat these iron nails and pieces?! We're not Gajeel!! Are all machine race members' eating habits this outrageous?! And most importantly!! Why did you put me in a skirt?! Can't your brain figure out I'm a man?!

Breakdown, tears, helplessness...

However, Gray couldn't make a sound at this moment, so he had to keep all his complaints to himself.

It's possible that Gray resisted the modifier's modifications too fiercely, causing some problems with the modifications, specifically his vocalization function.

Compared to his miserable state, Ultear and Wendy were in a much better situation—they could still speak.

However, after being mechanized, they not only lost the ability to use magic, but their combat abilities were also greatly reduced, making it impossible for them to escape the mechanical amusement park that the modifier had casually created.

This mechanical amusement park was designed for the children of the machine race to play in, and it was modeled after amusement parks in human society, featuring more than ten different entertainment facilities. However, to the mechanized Ultear and others, these facilities were nothing more than a dozen traps and mechanisms.

Faced with this trap, the mechanized body was completely powerless, not to mention there was a modifier blocking their way. Every time they ran to the exit of the mechanical amusement house, they would be caught again. It felt like a mouse being toyed with by a cat.

Fortunately, they realized that the modifier wasn't doing anything to them and was just seriously playing house, so they obediently accepted their fate and sat there waiting for rescue.

If Gray was the most devastated of them all, then Wendy was the most anxious, because this negative state of human mechanization was something she should have been the one to resolve, but in the current situation, she felt utterly powerless.

In the original 100-Year Quest arc, Wendy faced Diablos's white tiger, Po, who used puppet magic to turn Lily into a puppet. Wendy used purification magic to remove the negative status effect.

Logically, Wendy should be able to remove the modder's magic 'mechanics' now, but in fact, the two situations are not the same. The main reason is that Wendy has now also become a machine.

Even after being turned into a puppet by White Tiger Amber, Wendy can still use magic, but the effects will be greatly reduced. She is currently in this situation. Unlike Irene, she doesn't possess the strength to easily defeat White Tiger Amber even after being weakened. Although she can use purification magic, the purification effect is unsatisfactory.

"What to do... what to do... I'm the only one who can save everyone now! But the purification magic is too weak; it can't remove this state..."

Wendy racked her brains trying to think of a solution, but to no avail.

She doesn't have an "Eileen cheat" to help her now, and without the initiative, dealing with the modder is almost impossible.

"In this situation... it seems only Kirasan can save us..."

Chapter 554 Gray: We have to go support them.

When Kira leisurely arrived on the street, he saw an extremely absurd scene: four mechanical toys that looked remarkably similar to Ultear, Wendy, Gray, and Charlo were being taken home in a large mechanical amusement park.

"What's going on?? There's a toy playground here?"

Kira frowned, sensing something was amiss. Upon closer inspection, his eyes stung with pain: the mechanical doll, remarkably similar to Gray, was dressed in women's clothing. It sported two pink bows in its hair, wore a pure white dress, and sported red shoes identical to Little Red Riding Hood's. Although they appeared to be made of fabric, they were actually metal, the difference in texture created by variations in color and lighting.

Despite the added metallic attire, Kira still recognized Gray at a glance; after all, they'd been guildmates for nearly a decade. This Gray completely lacked the demeanor expected of the original male lead, instead showing signs of developing into a female supporting character, someone who could rival Erza.

"My God, is that Gray?!"

Kira was utterly shocked. He recognized Gray, but wished he hadn't, because it was just too horrible to look at. "Who designed this look? It's so tasteless!"

No, I have to record it myself and take it back to show the guild members!

Thinking of this, Kira pulled out an Image Magic Crystal without hesitation. "Ahhh~ Juvia would probably love this kind of Gray! I'll get a set when I get back, I guarantee I'll make a fortune!"

Just as Kira was having a great time filming, they noticed his arrival.

"Kira, please help me restore us to normal!! You must have a way, right?!"

Gray was very excited, but since he was on a pirate ship, his voice became muffled as the ship swayed. Kira thought he was just hallucinating, so he didn't stop what he was doing and his expression of watching the show grew stronger.

"Waaaaah... Kira-san! Please save us!" Seeing that Kira was unmoved, Wendy's anxious and aggrieved voice came from the highest point of the mechanical Ferris wheel.

"Stop messing around, you idiot!! This is an extremely urgent situation!!"

Urudia sat on the carousel, her eyes already seeing stars after hundreds of rotations, but she was still full of energy when she got angry.

This time Kira heard clearly; after all, it was the girls' request. He put away the magic crystal and strode forward indignantly: "They're here... Where are the enemies?"