Internet Magic in Fairy Tail

Chapter 205: Chapter 205: Erza Knightwalker's concern

Cana's invitation for a date had just been a brief interlude.

After finishing his chat with Gildarts, Nate continued working diligently on his code.

Around 8 p.m., Lucy finished preparing dinner. Nate put his work aside and went next door to join her for the meal.

...

Parallel World: Edolas

In a luxurious bedroom within the royal capital, Erza Knightwalker lay on a plush bed, slowly opening her eyes. A flicker of dissatisfaction glinted in her gaze.

"I lost..."

She had received her Magic Net ring about half a month ago, and ever since, she had been completely engrossed in [Magic Arena]. The game had left a lasting impression on her.

Without leaving her room, she could tap "Match" to enter a virtual world and spar with skilled opponents. Winners earned ranking points, climbing up the ranks, while even losers gained practical experience and refined their skills.

Erza Knightwalker had come to love this game. If she had one complaint, it was her appearance in it.

Her counterpart from another world seemed to have quite the reputation. In ranked matches, Erza Knightwalker was frequently mistaken for the "Fairy Queen," Erza Scarlet. This didn't bother her; she simply defeated her opponents without a word.

But as she continued winning, her rank rose, and so did the difficulty of her matches. Until tonight, when she was matched against herself.

And... she lost.

The Edolas Erza stared blankly at the game screen before her.

[Username]: Fairy Hunter

[Rank]: Master

[Win/Loss Record]: 69/1

In her seventieth match, she had finally faced her first defeat. And the one who handed her that loss... was herself.

Erza Knightwalker found it hard to accept. Losing to anyone else might have been tolerable, but losing to herself?

Unable to hold back her curiosity, she opened the match history and tapped on her opponent's profile.

[Username]: Knight

[Rank]: Diamond

[Win/Loss Record]: 61/34

Seeing the win/loss record, Erza Knightwalker paused.

"Lost... thirty-four times? How could she lose that many?"

She was puzzled. She'd personally experienced her counterpart's strength. Her magic allowed her to instantly change into various armors, each with a unique effect, making her a versatile opponent. In their recent match, both had been evenly matched at the start.

But "Knight" possessed a special weapon—a sword that could transform into countless cherry blossom-like blades. When her opponent used this skill, Erza Knightwalker was defeated in an instant.

"How could she have lost that many times?" she wondered, her brows furrowing.

At that moment, a friend request popped up on her screen.

[User "Knight" has sent you a friend request. Accept?]

A taunt from the victor? Erza Knightwalker's expression hardened, but evading wasn't her style. She quickly accepted.

Knight: "Hello, Parallel World me."

Knight: "So, you're really my parallel self. Without Senbonzakura, that match would've likely been a draw."

'Senbonzakura?' She assumed it must refer to the sword.

Erza Knightwalker frowned, taking a moment before replying.

'Parallel me? We might look the same, but we're two entirely different people!'

Fairy Hunter: "I am Erza Knightwalker!"

Knight: "Nice to meet you, Knightwalker. I'm Erza Scarlet. Want to go another round? Now that we're friends, we can spar anytime without waiting."

Knight: "Practicing with you feels like it's really helping me improve."

So she'd sent a friend request for this reason? Erza Knightwalker thought for a moment, then decided to address her earlier curiosity.

Fairy Hunter: "How did you lose 34 matches? At the Diamond rank, you shouldn't have faced opponents that much stronger than you."

Even with a string of bad luck, 34 losses seemed excessive.

Scarlet quickly replied.

Knight: "Those were all with my boyfriend, in private sparring."

Fairy Hunter: "Boyfriend?"

Erza Knightwalker froze for a moment.

Her parallel self from another world actually had... a boyfriend?

"Boyfriend" was a word that had never been part of her life.

Knight: "Yes, sparring with a friend doesn't affect rank points, but it does show up in win-loss records. Aside from my boyfriend, I haven't lost to anyone else."

Knight: "The Diamond rank is still too low to face truly skilled opponents. You're the strongest I've encountered so far in ranked matches."

Knight: "Want to go again? If not, I'll spar with my boyfriend."

A pang of curiosity struck Knightwalker.

What kind of man would her parallel counterpart fall for?

To have won 34 times against her, he must be quite a powerful mage. Hesitantly, she typed a question.

Fairy Hunter: "All right."

Fairy Hunter: "But before that, what kind of person is your boyfriend?"

Fairy Hunter: "I can't imagine myself with anyone... though we're not exactly the same, are we?"

Knight: "He's the creator of Internet Magic. This game? He created it. ??"

Erza Knightwalker's expression went blank for a second.

The creator of the Magic Net?

She instantly thought of the man who had stormed the palace half a month ago.

Instinctively, she pulled up her friend list.

[Sigma Male, online (Idle)]

So... he was her parallel self's boyfriend?

A strange feeling washed over her.

She suddenly remembered the task he had given her: sell 10,000 magic rings, each one to be activated in person. She had actually finished this about a week ago but hadn't contacted him yet.

For now, she still hadn't returned the soldiers of the Second and Fourth Magic War Divisions that he held as leverage.

The reason she hadn't contacted him was simple: the stakes had grown higher.

With the Magic Net, Edolas finally had a steady means to acquire magic power, one that didn't require violence or plundering from the parallel world. In recent days, she'd been using the Magic Net Express Delivery feature to buy lacrimas from the other world.

And she didn't even need money. People were willing to exchange lacrimas for points—points that were easily earned by simply logging in each day.

If everyone had access to a Magic Net ring, they could acquire lacrimas endlessly just through sign-in points alone.

And if points weren't enough, she could always purchase lacrimas with gold.

Gold was valued as a precious metal and magic material in both worlds.

However, upon learning all this, the king had no intention of giving up the Anima plan. Worse yet, his ambitions had grown.

He now wanted to seize control of the Magic Net.

Because of this, Erza Knightwalker had been at a loss for what to do and had put off contacting Nate.

Just then, Knight sent another message.

Knight: "Are we fighting?"

Fairy Hunter: "Another time. I just remembered I have something to handle."

Knight: "Understood. We'll spar next time."

Fairy Hunter: "Okay."

Ending the brief exchange, Erza Knightwalker clicked on Nate's icon, hesitating slightly before typing.

Fairy Hunter: "I've finished the task you assigned."

Fairy Hunter: "As agreed, will you release my comrades?"

The response came quickly.

Sigma Male: "Already sold 10,000 rings? ??"

Fairy Hunter: "With my rank, it was simple."

Fairy Hunter: "There's... something else I'd like to tell you."

Sigma Male: "Go ahead. For someone as capable as you, I'm open to requests. ??"

Knightwalker took a deep breath.

She was loyal to the kingdom, not to the king.

With a safe way to obtain magic, she no longer wanted to rely on violent means of seizing it from another world.

On top of that, [Magic Arena] had made one thing very clear: mages from the other world were incredibly strong.

Currently, there were over thirty individuals who had reached the "Champion" rank.

While she hadn't fought a Champion yet, she could view the rankings and records. Even a quick glance at the win-loss stats suggested that the Champions on the leaderboard were undeniably powerful mages.

It was likely that each of them was stronger than herself.

Edolas was no match for the other world.

If the Anima plan were initiated and the other world retaliated, it could spell doom for the kingdom.

She couldn't let the king push things any further.

With a heavy heart, Erza Knightwalker typed out a message.

Fairy Hunter: "Please come here. I'll help you spread the Magic Net across this world!"

Fairy Hunter: "My country can't solve its problems alone anymore. I need your power to intervene!"

Fairy Hunter: "Stop the king!"

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