It looked like my suspicion that the period of calm I had experienced was merely a prelude to something else was correct—the war was about to happen.
"System, can I get information about the upcoming war?"
[Congratulations to the host for realizing that a war is imminent. As a reward, the host is now allowed to know the hidden conditions required to unlock knowledge about the impending war.
Had the host not figured this out and failed to meet the hidden conditions, they would have had to complete even more difficult quests to obtain this knowledge. Additionally, the time wasted on those quests would have made it even harder for the host to stop the war before it began.]
Karna winced slightly but decided to check the hidden conditions first.
[Ensure that the Thunder Legion is not expelled but instead punished – Completed.
Resolve the Thunder Palace spell without a single person getting hurt – Incomplete.
Defeat Laxus Dreyar at full power – Incomplete.]
"Thank God I saw this," Karna sighed as he read through the hidden conditions. Out of the three, he had already ensured that Laxus would not be expelled from the guild. As for defeating Laxus at full power before he lost his abilities, that was something he had already planned on doing.
Most of Laxus's paranoia about the guild in this world stemmed from the torture he had suffered at the hands of his father, Ivan. Moreover, he had witnessed Ivan preparing to torture Karna after he was done with him. Though Karna had managed to escape using his armor, the resulting shockwave had knocked Laxus unconscious as well. When Laxus woke up without any injuries—thanks to Porlyusica's healing—he mistakenly believed that Karna had been tortured just as badly as he had.
Despite Karna and the others repeatedly telling him otherwise, Laxus refused to believe them. His new mentality made him deeply distrustful of everything. He was convinced that Karna had suffered the same fate but was simply hiding it.
At its core, his behaviour boiled down to one thing: he had been powerless to stop Karna from being attacked.
The only way to ease Laxus's paranoia was to show him that Karna was strong enough to defend himself. Yet, even after all these years and despite Karna's accomplishments far surpassing Laxus's many times over, he still didn't believe it. He used every opportunity to try to convince Karna to leave the guild and abandon wizardry altogether. Laxus even argued that Karna had more than enough money to live lavishly for generations, making his continued involvement in battles and dangerous missions due to his career as a wizard unnecessary.
Sometimes, his reasoning was so frustrating that even Cana felt like bashing his head in.
Damn, he's an extreme brocon in a way. And the Fairy Tail stubbornness runs strong in him.
The only way to break that stubbornness had been demonstrated time and time again by the scariest woman in Karna's life—Porlyusica.
The best way to make Laxus see reason was to punch it straight into his head.
'Wait a minute, aren't I supposed to be an archer? Lately, most of what I do involves punching and kicking. Well, at least I can deal with the Lacrima using my archery. Plus, this will be the first time I've tried using a combination attack in a real battle instead of just simulating it in my head.'
Karna thought to himself as he stepped out of the guild. The second hidden condition was the one he was most grateful to have discovered in advance. He would have handled the first and third conditions on his own, but he had planned to leave the second condition to the other guild members which would have resulted in them getting hurt and if it goes like cannon, Erza will get hurt the most wounds. Which for sure would have failed that condition.
Right now, they were all furious. If they followed canon and combined their numbers to withstand the Thunder Lacrimas, their resulting injuries would have drained their anger significantly. They would be too exhausted to cause any further trouble. That was why, in the original timeline, most of them eventually agreed that excommunicating Laxus was too harsh—their anger had faded by then.
Besides, enduring the attack together would have been a good team-building exercise. Painful, but effective.
By now, Karna had reached the center of the city. If the floating Lacrimas formed a circle, he was standing directly at its center.
Perfect. This will ensure they all strike at the same microsecond.
Karna calculated.
"Rise up, INCURSIO!!!"
He shouted as his armor enveloped his entire body. It had evolved significantly, now featuring a blue tint in certain places, with the rest gleaming in pure gold and matte black.
"This is going to hurt," he muttered as he willed the armor to bond with him—just like the first time, when it absorbed his blood to gain his magic absorption properties.
Chick!!
CRACK!!
SHRIK!!
Karna winced and bit his tongue to hold back his pain. Unlike before, this time, the armor had to insert itself deep enough to reach his bones in order to absorb the immense lightning energy from the hundreds of Lacrimas surrounding the city.
He felt a slight trickle of blood escape his body before the armor tightened, sealing the wounds.
"This is going to hurt when I take it off," he muttered as he summoned his bow.
The armor read his thoughts and began adapting to the bow. Though the connection wasn't strong yet, it was a start. The more he used them together, the more they would synchronize until they reached perfect harmony. And when that happens, he will be able to create an entirely new system of battle style which will boost his power to a whole new level. He had not even added the death element to it yet and it will be even more horrifying to his enemies when he does it.
He looked up at the sky, drawing the bowstring.
A/N- hope you like it and every 100 powerstone gets extra chapter of Jason.