A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Larcade fell silent for a moment. It wasn't that he couldn't understand what Kira was saying; he even thought Kira was right. But... wasn't he going off-topic?

"You mean... your two companions are animals?"

Kira: "..."

Could your reading comprehension be any worse?

"What I mean is that the magic of desire is actually not strong at all, you could even say it's garbage, because it's a kind of magic that is destined to be eliminated and defeated!"

"For an individual, overcoming desires is overcoming oneself, which makes one stronger; for humanity as a whole, overcoming desires can promote the progress of civilization, which is a natural evolution!"

Chapter 749 Overcoming One's Desire

The Larcade before him was not one of those opponents he usually faced, whom he could easily ignore. Since he could defeat Laxus, he should at least treat him as Gildarts.

It is known that Natsu was defeated by the desire to sleep and Laxus was defeated by the desire to reproduce, which means that Larcade's magical strength is greater than that of Natsu and Laxus. Moreover, his physical strength is not to be underestimated. He can withstand a 'Crushing Fist' with his bare hands without flinching. Kira is definitely no match for him in this respect. In addition, he has such a large cross on his back. Who would dare to be careless in the slightest?

Before a battle, Kira uses his "talk-no-jutsu" to inflict a debuff on the enemy. This is a move Kira hasn't used in a long time, because in recent years he has become so famous that his opponents don't need to, or aren't worth, using his "talk-no-jutsu." Now, he's using it again after a long time, showing that he's still got it.

Larcade remained standing still, his gaze fixed on Kira, as if trying to find a flaw in Kira's eyes. Clearly, he had been influenced by Kira's confidence and was now eager to use magic to test whether Kira was truly unafraid of being consumed by desire.

Kira simply stood there calmly, his righteous spirit his strongest defense, protecting his body from the ravages of desire.

Finally, Larcade moved. His eyes snapped open, he shifted slightly to adjust his stance, and then a surge of immense magical power erupted from his body: "Ultimate Pleasure!!"

A dazzling white light moved swiftly, rising from Kira's feet and spreading upwards, enveloping his body. Kira immediately felt a surge of pleasure from the inside out.

The feeling was as if every cell in the body was breathing freely and joyfully at a frequency of dozens or hundreds of times per second; every neuron connected to the brain that controls the body was continuously sending pleasant signals to all organs of the body.

This intense and thrilling feeling made him shudder. His hair stood on end, his breathing became rapid, his heart pounded, his blood boiled, his body trembled, his kidneys worked, his magic flowed, and his cartilage seemed to pay homage…

But less than ten seconds later, Kira broke free from his desire.

The immense, mountain-like, and unfathomable magical power he possessed erupted instantly under his control, completely dispelling the dazzling white light that enveloped him with its sheer size.

"That's it? I haven't even gotten serious yet!" Having overcome his evil thoughts, physical weaknesses, and the abyss of his humanity, Kira instantly became smug and immediately made a sarcastic remark.

Compared to Kira's relaxed expression, Larcade looked much more disheveled. He stared at Kira in astonishment, his pupils trembling slightly, a few drops of cold sweat trickling down his forehead, his chest filled with disbelief and a hint of curiosity.

Are you really human?

At this moment, Larcade finally understood why his father and his adopted brother valued this boy named Kira so much and even instructed him to 'admit defeat if things went wrong'. It was because Kira's magic power and magic were far superior to his own, and most importantly, his magic was similar to August's!

Facing him is like facing a younger version of August!

"This feeling... is just like when I used magic on Augustus back then, it's completely unaffected!..."

In the past, throughout the entire Alvarez Empire, Larcade's Desire Magic only failed on one person: the 'Magic King' August, who used the Instant Copy Magic. Others, let alone ordinary mages, couldn't resist it, not even his fellow members of the Twelve Shields.

Even Eileen, who was known as one of the "Twin Pillars" alongside August, could only blush and run away when she was under the influence of her desire magic. Even her father, the emperor Zeref, would lose control of his emotions when possessed by the white light created by the desire magic.

But now, there is one more person in this world who is not affected by the magic of his own desires!

That's Kira Hopelight, the red-haired boy who's only 22 years old!

Seeing Kira remain unharmed, even seemingly effortless, under Larcade's Desire Magic, the tens of thousands of spectators in the venue were all shocked.

"Oh my god—! Unbelievable! Unbelievable!!"

"Kirasan showed absolutely no abnormalities under Rakadesang's desire magic?! He even easily dispelled the magic?! What on earth is going on?!"

"Is it a magical crushing victory? Or, as he says, an absolute control of reason over desire?"

"What unwavering will! What a terrifying mentality!!"

Looking at the blue-clad figure enjoying the cheers of thousands on the field, Laxus was filled with resentment: "How did that guy do that?"

He simply couldn't understand how Kira, who spent all his time in the guild eating, drinking, and having fun, could remain so unmoved, even though he himself had honed his willpower through arduous training in the deep mountains and couldn't control his desires when entangled in desire magic.

"Is there really such a big difference in our magical power?" Laxus became more and more unconvinced and frustrated the more he thought about it.

Kira is three years younger than him, but he has never beaten him once since childhood; his talent in magic is outstanding, but he can only ever be second to Kira.

If Gildarts is an insurmountable mountain, then Kira is an airship that can take off at any time without consuming magic power to drive it, and no matter how hard I practice, I can never catch up with him!

Since the desire to reproduce was ineffective against Kira, Larcade had no choice but to change his tactics: "Vomiting Soul!!"

The three techniques of the magic of desire are not progressive, because each desire exists independently deep within the human body. Therefore, when used by the same person, there is basically no significant difference in strength, unless the level of proficiency differs greatly.

However, in this world, mages generally allocate their stat points to spell power and mana, and only a small number of powerful mages care about the proficiency of each spell.

Larcade believes that Kira may have trained specifically to resist the two desire spells, 'Ultimate Pleasure' and 'Death Sleep,' which he used yesterday. Since the desire for procreation is ineffective against him, and the effect of the desire for sleep may not be ideal, he might as well try a different approach and test the desire for food, which he has never used before.

"Come on, let me see if you can really resist my magic..."

Larcade looked at Kira, who remained motionless and was gradually enveloped by his magic, and his eyes gleamed with a hint of curiosity.

"Hmm... Appetite? I can definitely feel a different kind of urge than before. I'm unusually hungry!" Kira commented on Larcade's magic.

At the same time, his stomach started making a loud, uncontrollable gurgling sound.

Humans can resist the urge to reproduce and the urge to sleep by relying on strong willpower and external means targeting the body, such as diverting attention through physical pain. However, it is extremely difficult to resist the appetite, because pain cannot distract from hunger; on the contrary, it will intensify hunger.

In essence, eating is a necessary condition for the existence of all life. The purpose of eating is to "live," unlike reproduction, which is to "continue one's life," or sleep, which is to "live better."

Life may not reproduce due to external reasons, such as some animals; it may also abandon sleep in the course of evolution, such as some plants; but life must never go without eating, because life needs to eat to replenish energy, and without energy it cannot live, so this desire is even purer!

Larcade's three Desire spells are indeed evenly matched, but Devouring Soul is definitely the most difficult to counter!

"I'm so hungry! So hungry!! I'm really so hungry!!!..."

Chapter 750 Magical Clash

Kira frowned, clutching his stomach with his right hand. The hunger felt like he hadn't eaten all day, so much so that he was dizzy with hunger, his stomach was aching, and he was even in so much pain that he felt like he was about to bleed.

The reason it's described as having been hungry for a day rather than longer is because Kira has never been hungry for that long in his life, and it's hard to imagine what it would be like to be hungry for even longer.

In a moment of mental confusion, Kira suddenly remembered that his biology teacher had once said that when a person is hungry to a certain extent, the body will begin to break down the fat stored in the body, and at that time, the feeling of hunger will cease.

"What a pity, this magic won't trigger this mechanism, because this hunger is caused by magic, it's not normal hunger at all!!"

Glug glug...

Kira was certain that even a well-educated girl with good manners and a slightly introverted and shy personality would forget about blushing and only want to eat!

Also wanting to challenge his weakness, Kira persisted for about ten seconds, only to find that everything in his eyes had turned into food: his opponents, the commentators and hosts on the judges' panel, and the tens of thousands of audience members in the audience, each familiar or unfamiliar face, had become a pile of fried chicken, hamburgers, fries, cakes, cola, barbecue, hand-pulled pancakes, double-skin milk, pan-fried buns, fried dough sticks, fried rice noodles...

Even the ground beneath their feet had transformed into the same material as the Boin Islands and Hangulila Island from the neighboring One Piece series, turning into an unknown but delicious-smelling food.

"I can't take it anymore, I'm not playing anymore!"

Kira has basically eaten three meals a day throughout his life: breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and midnight snack. Even in the early years before he joined Fairy Tail, he never let himself go hungry because he could use magic at that time.

This was the first time Kira had ever experienced such hunger. In just ten seconds, he was so hungry that he had to use magic to resist it.

Annihilation!

With a weak, feeble shout, his magic transformed into a black ball of light that appeared before Kira, absorbing all the Devouring Souls magic that was affecting him, before finally vanishing into nothingness.

Word Magic: Annihilation is the most direct yet most effective magic Kira possesses, capable of eliminating all magic. It has never failed before, and even the curse of Tranquility is powerless against it.

"Phew...that feels much better..."

A few beads of cold sweat appeared on Kira's forehead. He wiped them away, felt his stomach was no longer hungry, and then relaxed, looking at Larcade and asking, "How is it? Do you have any other tricks up your sleeve?"

'Is this guy... trying to break all my magic?'

Larcade looked at the blue figure in front of him with a serious expression. The two had not agreed to fight using magic. Putting magic aside, if it was just close combat, he believed he would not lose to Kira. But Kira was not stupid. How could he possibly agree to fight close combat without magic?

Moreover, the failure of the two attacks had made Larcade realize the unfathomable depth of the person before him. Kira was a very well-rounded and powerful mage, comparable to the Magic King August. Even if he used Death Sleep, it might not be effective.

But Larcade still wanted to give it a try! Not for any other reason than Kira's use of magic was like August's, and August was the person he hated most right now!

"The Sleep of Death!!"

With a loud shout from Larcade, a large amount of dark white magic surged out of his body, quickly forming a giant wave of magic several meters high, which surrounded Kira from all angles.

Judging from the situation, anyone struck by this magic would be put to a deep sleep and never wake up.

Larcade flicked his fingers, and a white wave of magic surged down, mixed with a little dark magic. In the interplay of black and white, it engulfed Kira, who was in the middle of it!

Just before Kira's figure was about to be engulfed by Larcade's magic, a sudden change occurred!

boom!!!

A loud bang echoed through the air, and Kira's magic surged forth like a geyser, forming a solid magical barrier around him. The white, wave-like magic was completely blocked, with not a single gap to penetrate it.

The most robust defensive magic—Word Magic Defense!

Kira held his fingers together in front of him, and terrifying magical power tore a passage through the white waves outside the magic barrier, leading to Larcade. Kira stared intently at Larcade with his clear, beautiful sky-blue eyes: "Such a large quantity, I dare not try it lightly!"

Larcade smiled faintly, a hint of regret flashing between his brows: "Is that so? I thought you would accept my magic as readily as before..."

Kira sneered, "Just as I expected, seeing that I didn't take any defensive measures and just took the first two attacks, you were planning to use your full strength against me in the final blow? If I really didn't prepare anything to take that attack, I definitely wouldn't have had enough time to neutralize it, and then you might actually have won the match, right?"

"You bastard, you're actually quite good-looking, but you're so treacherous!"

Hearing this mixed praise and criticism, Larkad didn't offer much explanation, but simply shook his head and said, "For victory, using a little strategy occasionally is necessary..."

"Let's end this tentative magical exchange here!"

Kira expertly interrupted him, flicking his wrist to throw a black ball: "Annihilation!!"

The black sphere of light, like a depth charge, burst through the magic barrier with a loud 'bang,' causing a violent chain reaction in the surrounding area. The white magic, drawn by the strange magical force, immediately gathered frantically around the black sphere, as if it had fallen into a black hole, only flowing in and not out.

"Magic Rune Lockdown!!"

Kira pointed again, and several golden chains shot out from Larcade's feet. Accompanied by the clanging of metal, the chains quickly circled Larcade's body before snapping shut, becoming the strongest bindings.

But since Larcade is known as the mage with the best physical attributes among the Twelve Shields, he is not only powerful in attack and defense, but also extremely fast. In the instant the chains tightened, he pushed off with his legs and jumped backward and upward.

Larcade wasn't foolish enough to use his bare hands to cut the chains, because by observing Kira's previous battles, he had already discovered that Kira's attacks were imbued with binding magic, and once touched, one would be immobilized, making them impossible to defend against.

Even if you manage to break free with some effort, it will take time, and during that time Kira will have enough time to seal you with several more layers of restraints. So once you're caught in the trap, there will be no chance of escape.

Snapped!

Larcade landed lightly, his palms naturally clasped together, and his gaze toward Kira became serious once more.

"Truly as still as a virgin, and as swift as a rabbit!"