Fairy Tail: I'm invincible when I receive anime characters!

"The dove has also been taken down. As expected of Qi Yan, a man who can defeat all ten of the Holy Ten Mages, even with the Three Crows, he still couldn't stop the opponent's advance."

"But I really didn't expect that you would be the first one to arrive here, Erza."

At this moment, Erza's voice rang out: "This is all thanks to you. Because you sent all the experts to deal with Qi Yan, I was able to arrive here so quickly."

"Geralt...why did you deceive us?! We trusted you so much! Why?!"

Hugh stared at Gerald with eyes blazing with fury. He had always believed in Gerald, even idolized him, and regarded him as his pillar of support. But this pillar of support had completely collapsed. Everything he had was a lie carefully constructed by Gerald. This hatred seemed to be devouring his heart.

"Resting? You ask why? Well, it's because you're easy to fool. But I'm very grateful to you. Thanks to you, such a huge project was completed in just eight years..."

Chapter 144 You're Too Easy to Foole

"Geralt—!!"

Erza angrily swung her sword at Jellal.

The throne where Gerald stood was cleaved in two.

"Gerald! Hugh and the others trusted you so much, and this is how you repay their trust! Deceiving them wasn't enough, you had to trample their dignity into the ground too?!"

Erza angrily rebuked Jellal. Although she had suffered a lot in the past eight years, her suffering was nothing compared to that of Hugh and the others.

The culprit who caused all this not only felt no remorse, but also took it for granted to laugh and make fun of it.

“Sister…” Hugh looked at Erza like this and tears streamed down his face, as if he had finally seen someone stand up for him.

"Dignity? What dignity do they have? Haven't I been good enough to them all these years? I've had people teach them magic, given them food and clothing, and promised them a bright future..."

"But you've taken away their freedom!!"

Gerald spread his arms and laughed loudly: "Freedom? Hahahaha!! Where in this world is there any true freedom? Have you felt freedom outside? Everyone is bound by all sorts of things, family, marriage, work, are these freedom? Have you seen them free? Only in Jelf's world is there true freedom! And I am leading them to that world!"

When Gerald spoke of Zeref, his eyes became slightly manic.

Erza said coldly, "This is all wishful thinking on your part. You haven't considered their opinions at all."

Gerald scoffed: "Their opinions? What's the point of considering the opinions of the weak? Erza, you've been out there all these years for nothing. Haven't you figured out the law of the jungle yet?"

"Geralt, you damned bastard!"

Hugh fired cards at Gerald one after another.

"Hmph! I had someone teach you this magic myself. Did you think I didn't have a way to break it?"

Gerald unleashed streaks of dark ghosts from his hand, knocking Hugh's cards away while simultaneously striking Hugh himself.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

Hugh let out a scream as he was knocked to the ground.

Erza rushed to Hugh's side and helped him up: "Hugh! Are you alright?!"

"Sister...I'm sorry..."

Although he knew Gerald was deceiving him, he still held onto a sliver of hope. But when Gerald finally told him the truth, his heart had already broken.

"Don't say sorry, you're not the one who should be saying sorry."

Erza looked at Jellal with a sharp gaze.

Gerald's lips curled into a disdainful smile. How could he possibly apologize to these people?

"This composure... it seems your claim that the magical spirit's power would decline was just a bluff, wasn't it?"

"No... the magical spirit power will fall. There are still ten... no, nine minutes left before the magical spirit power falls."

Erza frowned. She wasn't sure if Jellal was telling the truth, but she couldn't be too careful given how accurately he could say the time: "Hugh, you leave first, then tell everyone to leave this tower together."

"What about you, sister?"

“I’ll deal with Gerald first, then I’ll come find you. It’s time to settle this eight-year grudge.”

"Um... Sister, please be careful."

Hugh had originally planned to take down Gerald himself, but after actually fighting him, he realized how weak he was. Gerald defeated him with a single blow, and he realized that he would only be a burden to his sister here.

Gerald watched Hugh escape without making a move to stop him. In his view, Hugh was an insignificant pawn who could be discarded after being used: "There are 8 minutes left. Let's enjoy these 8 minutes."

"Eight minutes is enough."

"Ha! I didn't expect you to become even more arrogant after eight years. Have you forgotten how I was driven off this island and forced to flee in a sorry state eight years ago?"

As Gerald spoke, he released a large number of dark spirits from his hands.

Erza dodged the Dark Specters' attacks while severing them.

Many pillars were destroyed by the Dark Wraith.

"Didn't you cherish these things before? Now you're destroying the tower that you worked so hard to build. Don't you think it's a pity?"

"It's just one or two pillars; it's just for decoration."

"It's because of these decorations that Hugh and his family have trusted you for the past eight years!!"

"Stop lecturing me! The important thing is the R system, it's built now!! Those guys are useless now!!"

Jellal unleashed a large number of dark spirits that bound Erza's body.

"Useless! Useless! Do you only categorize people as useful or useless?!"

Erza roared and began using her transformation magic. The appearance of the armor gave Erza a slight opening from the ghosts' entanglement.

Erza seized the opportunity and severed all the ghosts.

"Fairy Dance!!"

Erza rushed in front of Jellal and slashed him in the abdomen.

Erza's blade was pressed directly against Geralt's throat.

"Tell me, what is your real purpose?"

"I don't understand what you're saying?"

"Actually, the R system was never built, right? I haven't been doing nothing for the past eight years; I've been investigating the R system. The tower's structure and principles were indeed built according to the original design, but to fully build the R system, there's one indispensable element: magic!!"

"To unleash such a large-scale spell, at least 27 billion Idias of magic power would be needed. Even if all the mages on the continent were gathered together, they might not be able to achieve such a massive amount of magic power."

"Furthermore, you knew the Council was going to attack this place, yet you didn't plan to escape. What are you thinking?!"

Gerald smiled and said, "There are still 5 minutes until the magical spirit power falls."

Erza roared, "Jellal!! Your so-called ideals are long gone! Do you want to die like this?! Then let's die together!!"

"Ah... this is not bad either. My body is possessed by Zeref's ghost and is no longer under my control. I am just a puppet used to revive Zeref's body. I can't save myself, my companions can't save me, no one can save me. That's why I said that Paradise... freedom... doesn't exist at all. Everything ended before it even began."

“I know the R system won’t be built, but… Zeref’s ghost won’t let me stop. No one can stop me now. I’m like a broken locomotive. Erza, you win. Kill me and then escape from here with your friends.”

Erza released her sword and sat down opposite Jellal.

"You're a victim of Zeref too!"

Gerald said with a somber expression, "This is the punishment I deserve for my own cowardice. The huge gap between my ideals and reality made me lose my way, and I did too many things to hurt you and Hugh and the others."

Erza shook her head: "It's not your fault. You saved me, but I failed to save you. I will bear the punishment."

"Erza...I've already been..."

A voice rang out: "Ugh!"

Erza immediately turned her head to the side upon hearing the sound.

"Qi Yan?!"

Then Qi Yan appeared on the windowsill at some point.

"Uh... I'm sorry, I just couldn't help it. But Erza, you're too easy to fool. Haven't you heard the saying, 'A man's words are deceitful'? You actually believe such nonsense? What an idiot woman."

"What?!" Erza was slightly taken aback.

Qi Yan then looked at Gerald and sneered, "But you're really something, spouting all sorts of nonsense. No wonder you can fool so many people."

Gerald looked at Qi Yan with a confused expression and said, "I don't understand what you mean by that?"

"Don't you understand? Erza, kill him!"

Although Erza didn't know why Qi Yan would say that, out of trust in him, Erza immediately went to pick up the sword.

Gerald kicked Erza directly.

Erza was kicked away and, after stopping, looked at Jellal in disbelief.

Gerald ran his hands through his hair, looked at Qi Yan and chuckled, "Really, the atmosphere was just right, don't come and ruin it!"

Chapter 145 Magical Spirit Power

“Geralt, you…”

Erza trembled as she stared at Jellal in disbelief. Just now, Jellal had told her to kill him, but now that she was actually going to do it, he was resisting. This was clearly not right.

Jellal suddenly clutched his head and cried out in pain, "No!...It wasn't me...Erza...It was Zeref...Zeref controlled my body...I was just kidding! Hahaha!!"

Just as Erza was worried about Jellal, a smug smile appeared on Jellal's face.

"Geralt! You...you lied to me...!!"

Erza couldn't believe that Jellal was still lying.

Gerald said smugly, "That's right! I was just kidding you!"

"But Erza! You are so easy to fool and so cute! As expected, women who are swayed by love are all fools. You would believe any lie I tell."

"I kill you!!"

Erza summoned a giant sword from her weapon storage and was about to rush over and chop Jellal to pieces.

But immediately, a black, snake-like incantation appeared on Erza's body, binding her.

"Ugh! What's going on?! I can't move my body!! What is this?!"

"The serpent of restraint is what I left on you when I touched you just now."

"Why be angry? It's clearly the person who was deceived who's in the wrong; the person who was deceived is too stupid to have been deceived by me."

"You bastard!!"

Erza struggled desperately, but she couldn't move at all.

"Ugh! I can't stand it anymore, you even lie to women."

Qi Yan was also very displeased to see Jellal's attitude. Erza was his companion and friend, while Jellal was just a character from an anime he had watched in his previous life, and now he was an enemy. Such wanton trampling on Erza's feelings had made Qi Yan want to kill this guy.

Gerald seemed to sense Qi Yan's killing intent as well.

She immediately said, "I advise you not to make a move, Erza. Haven't you always been curious about where the 27 billion Idia magic power came from?"

Erza looked at Jellal; she was indeed very curious.

Gerald's lips curled up slightly, and he pointed his index finger upwards.

Buzz————!

At this moment, the sky was changing, and the changes in magic stirred up the clouds. A magic circle slowly opened in the sky.

"Magical Spirit Power?! Is the Council really going to unleash Magical Spirit Power?!"

The change in the sky above the Tower of Paradise immediately drew everyone's attention.

"Magical spirit power... Could it be?!"

Erza had an unbelievable guess.

Jellal confirmed Erza's guess: "That's right! It's magical spirit power!"

"The Tower of Paradise itself is a massive receiving and conversion device. As long as we successfully receive and convert the magical spirit power, we can gather enough 27 billion Idia magic power! The R system can then be fully completed!!"

"There's less than a minute left before the magical spirit power descends! Join me in witnessing this historic moment—hahahaha!!"

Gerald spread his arms and laughed wildly.

"You...you're absolutely insane!!"

Erza couldn't believe that Jellal would be so crazy as to absorb the power of magical spirits. That was the ultimate weapon that could destroy a country with a single shot. One wrong move and he would be doomed.