Fairy Tail: My Magic is a Yu-Gi-Oh! Deck — Chapter 129

Chapter 129: Give Me Back My Passion!

Queen’s Knight and King’s Knight stood firm, raising their heavy shields to intercept the crescent wave of sword energy Ikaruga had unleashed. There were no blinding sparks from the clash of weapons—only the sickening, muffled crunch of enchanted steel shattering inch by inch under overwhelming pressure.

Chase glanced down at Lucy, still securely tucked in his arm, and leveled a deadpan, serious look at her. “Lucy, this enemy is actually pretty tough. Can you do me a favor?”

“Wait, seriously? An opponent that even you aren’t confident about defeating?!”

Lucy blinked in shock, then gave a heavy, determined nod. “I might not be the strongest, but I’ll absolutely do my best!”

This was her first time fighting directly alongside Chase. She had to go all out! The blonde girl’s eyes burned with newfound resolve. She reached down, passionately unhooking her golden Zodiac Keys from her waist.

“Open! Gate of the Gold—!”

Before the Celestial Spirit Magic could even spark, a violent sense of weightlessness seized her stomach. A howling hurricane enveloped her entire body.

Watching the cobblestone street rapidly shrink away beneath her, Lucy instinctively let out a piercing, sustained shriek. Chase had just chucked her straight into the stratosphere.

“There we go. Now my hands are free.” Chase stretched his arms out, rolling his shoulders until they popped.

High above, tumbling chaotically through the night sky, Lucy’s mind short-circuited.

So this is what you meant by helping?!

You stinky card guy! You absolute battle freak! Give me back my passion!!!

As expected of the Celestial Spirit Mage, even the threat of imminent gravitational death couldn’t stop her internal roasting.

Down below, in a flash of blinding steel, Ikaruga carved the remaining fragments of Queen’s Knight and King’s Knight into metallic confetti. Swooping down toward Chase like a hawk, she tightened her grip on her re-sheathed katana.

“Mugetsu-Ryu: Garuda Flame!”

A blazing ring of fire erupted from the scabbard as she drew the blade. The roaring flames didn’t just add a scorching, explosive property to the slash—they completely masked the trajectory of the steel. It was her signature technique. Even if a target somehow survived the sheer heat, the hidden blade would easily cleave them in two.

Yet, Chase’s reaction made Ikaruga’s pupils shrink in disbelief.

He didn’t dodge. He didn’t retreat. He simply stood his ground and slowly extended his right arm.

A Card Mage with notoriously low physical combat power actually intended to take a direct, flesh-and-blood blow from a sword that could slice through enchanted steel?

The sheer arrogance of it completely enraged the assassin. Ikaruga twisted her wrist, reversing the flaming katana mid-swing to slash directly at Chase’s exposed neck.

A deafening metallic clang echoed through the alley. The Garuda Flame splashed outward upon impact, the shockwave scattering liquid fire in all directions and scorching the street tiles pitch black.

At the epicenter of the inferno, Chase’s fist was clenched. A spectral, bronze-colored gauntlet—the Right Arm of the Forbidden One—had materialized over his flesh, catching the razor-sharp edge mere centimeters from his jugular.

Rather than panicking, Ikaruga let out a cold, confident sneer.

A second later, the ethereal chains binding the bronze arm snapped. The Forbidden One’s gauntlet shattered inch by inch, raining down like cheap, broken glass.

“Underestimating my Mugetsu-Ryu swordsmanship will lead to a very terrible death, Mr. Chase—”

Ikaruga’s palms trembled slightly against the hilt, fully prepared to follow through and sever his arm and torso in a single motion. But her breath suddenly hitched.

Beneath the shattered remnants of the equipment card, Chase’s actual right arm was exposed. Thick, dark red scales overlapped across his skin, reflecting the cold moonlight and radiating a suffocating, almost divine pressure.

Flesh and bone had just blocked her invincible strike?

No, that’s not right!

Was my slash weakened?!

Feeling a mysterious, oppressive force bleeding from the scales and traveling straight down the blade of her sword, Ikaruga realized the terrifying truth. His magic was actively draining the offensive power of her attack.

“I didn’t underestimate your swordsmanship at all,” Chase smiled, his gaze turning sharp as a surging, dark red storm of magic power erupted around him. “On the contrary, I used my strongest magic.”

“Slifer the Sky Dragon’s—”

This magic power… it’s completely different from before!

As a master assassin, Ikaruga’s survival instincts screamed at her. Without a fraction of hesitation, she abandoned the clash and kicked off the ground, retreating rapidly. Before her boots even fully touched the cobblestones, she swung her blade in a desperate defensive arc.

“Mugetsu-Ryu: Yasha Flash!”

“—Iron Fist!”

Chase’s punch tore through the air. The resulting gale roared like a descending dragon, carrying a crushing, violently dense kinetic force. Under the sheer weight of the shockwave, Ikaruga’s flurry of defensive slashes warped, buckled, and then shattered into nothingness.

Even with her katana held horizontally to brace for the impact, the residual shockwave slammed into her chest. Ikaruga’s boots carved deep trenches into the street, sliding back over ten meters before the kinetic energy finally dissipated.

“Just a punch carries this much force… what kind of magic is this?”

Her arms shook violently against her sides. The elegant confidence she had carried since her arrival was completely gone, replaced by a rare, creeping dread.

Not only was his Card Magic incredibly versatile and his combat reflexes flawless, but his physical form possessed a destructive output that defied logic.

What was Lord Jellal thinking, sending us to assassinate a monster like this?!

Chase didn’t press the attack. Instead, he casually took half a step back and raised his arms, perfectly catching a screaming Lucy just before she could splatter against the pavement.

Perfect timing.

It looked incredibly smooth from the outside, but Lucy, currently cradled against his chest, had just experienced the worst rollercoaster of her life. She stared up at him, her beautiful brown eyes practically overflowing with venomous resentment.

I am absolutely, positively, NEVER fighting alongside him again!

The blonde girl silently swore the oath to the heavens.

“Chase! Lucy! What happened?!”

Two familiar voices rang out from the end of the street. Erza, fully equipped in her armor, and Mirajane, wearing a deep wine-red dress, sprinted toward the scene with dark expressions.

Further down the road, the heavy footsteps of the other Fairy Tail members living in Magnolia echoed through the night, their auras flaring with protective rage.

“Damn it. The worst-case scenario,” Ikaruga bit her lip, her eyes turning frigid.

She had never failed an assassination in her life, and her pride violently rejected this outcome. But looking at the approaching S-Class Mages, she knew there was no tactical countermeasure left.

Survival logic finally overrode her pride. She shot a glare toward the alleyway. “Vidaldus, retreat!”

Vidaldus Taka, who had been frozen in shock ever since Lucy’s impromptu space launch, snapped back to reality. Years of operating as the Trinity Raven allowed him to instantly read the room. He frantically struck the strings of his guitar, unleashing a piercing, high-frequency sound wave that forced everyone to cover their ears.

Using the momentary sensory disruption, Ikaruga pulled a smoke bomb from her robes and slammed it against the ground.

Thick, acrid smoke instantly flooded the entire block.

By the time the wind cleared the haze, Chase and Lucy looked up to find the street completely empty. Even Fukuro, the owl-man Chase had knocked out at the very beginning of the fight, had been dragged away. The Trinity Raven was gone.

“Chase, who were those people?”

Erza and Mirajane finally reached them, their eyes scanning the deep craters, the scorched tiles, and the collapsed ruins of a nearby building.

Judging by the sheer scale of the destruction, this was a highly coordinated ambush targeting Chase. Lucy, having narrowly survived the encounter, looked up at him, waiting for the answer.

“An assassination guild called the Death’s Head Caucus,” Chase said, casually dusting off his slightly rumpled coat. “They introduced themselves as a special ops team. The Trinity Raven.”

He made absolutely no move to pursue them.

Or, more accurately, he had intentionally let them escape. Going all out inside Magnolia’s city limits was far too restrictive; he would have leveled half the town trying to put Ikaruga down permanently.

Besides, there was no need to rush. The tracking magic he had slipped onto Fukuro the moment he punched the bird-man in the face was already transmitting a clear, steady signal.