Hardworking is definitely one of the best traits that a person can have. A lot of things can only happen through hard work. Things like some new inventions, those towering buildings, and maybe almost everything man-made. As I've said before, hard work betrays none.

However, if it is combined with other malicious traits, it can give humans the most miserable life they'll ever get. For example, if hard work is combined with obsessive dreams, that person will suffer for the rest of their lifes thinking that their achievements will never be enough and should strive for more. Another instance is that hardworking people are easily exploited by the greedy company leaders. Well, any leader wanted their subordinates to be as hardworking as possible. And when they happen to be the corrupt ones, abuse will easily soon follow.

That is why many philosophers believe in equilibrium as the most desirable state. A person should act accordingly by weighing the pros and cons of the situation. And most importantly, you should whether that certain something is too much, be it in hard work, dreams, and even simple things such as eating and sleeping.

Unfortunately, although this sounded very alien to me, but I do have my moments of working too hard for my liking.

Well, the preparation for the harvest festival was insane. At least it's not as busy as when the construction was still going on.

Even though the guild hall construction was a bit rushed to to the upcoming festival, I must say that the outcome looks pretty good in my opinion. The building is much bigger and more durable. Either that or the people here just toned down their brawls as they don't want our collective effort in building this thing go to waste.

As for me, I no longer lived inside the guild because I would be an abusive freeloader if I continue to do so. I didn't move to an appartment because the rent here is similar to that of Tokyo, so damn expensive. Instead, I just moved out to the unowned area nearest to the guild. It is located at the edge of the forest that surrounded Magnolia. There, I used my Wood Make Magic to build my small shack and some furnitures while some of my savings are used in buying some necessities like beddings and kitchen tools.

To be honest, living there was one of the best decisions I've made in my whole life. Not that there's a lot of them. It is the best not just because of the unlimited free food at the back of my house, but because of the peace it grants me whenever I went home from the rowdy place I'm working.

But last night, I didn't have the luxury of just dropping unconscious to my own bed because I was being told to stay here at the guild overnight to prepare for today's event. From the stage decorations for the guild's beauty pageant to the floats to be used tonight for the Fantasia parade, it took an overnight of work to finish them.

Right now, I'm just standing at the counter of the guild hall, absentmindedly looking at the stage while waiting for the Ms. Fairy Tail to start. Because Strauss was a participant of the said pageant, I took her place her manning the counter. There are a few orders of liquor here and there but it's not as busy because everyone is just excited for the event to start.

To be honest, I don't really have the urge to see this event to the end. Well, besides having to see beautiful women which is always nice. That is because most competitions tend to get noisy. And when it comes to Fairy Tail levels of noise, well, everyone knows how deafening that is. At least they're happy about it.

I then saw Master Dreyar jumping on top of the tall chair next to the counter. "You look bored, my boy. Aren't you excited for Ms. Fairy Tail?"

"Um, not really, Master. I'm just feeling tired from all that preparations."

"Oh, is that so? Then just get me a glass and a bottle of brandy and you may go rest afterwards. I suggest you watch the girls though."

I immediately did what he instructed. I put three ice cubes on the glass, get the bottle of brandy from the shelf and put them on the counter in front of him. After receiving a nod of confirmation from him, I lethargically went to the infirmary. Finally, after being awake for the whole 24-hour period, I got my much deserved sleep...

...

My ears are still ringing after being awakened from my relatively short nap. Why? Because people decided to start screaming at the main hall, although there are only two voices that are loud enough to reach the infirmary. I badly wanted to ignore them and just sleep. Of course I won't just ruin their joyful event by just showing up there and say that they've disturbed my sleep. Seriously, that would be a real dick move from me if I do so.

However, the voices didn't sound like they're cheering for a girl. Instead, it sounded like a bickering from Dragneel and whoever this guy he is with. I don't think people like Dragneel will be too passionate for a bickering this loud if it was just something that doesn't involve fighting.

So I went there to the main hall just to see what's happening. At the stage, I saw Dragneel preparing to burn one of the stone statues so detailed that I thought were a petrified Ms. Fairy Tail contestants.

I totally lost track of what just happened when I saw one of the stone statues cracked open with Scarlet emerging from it. Does that also mean the stone statues here really are petrified women? Well, I won't find out if I were to just stay here and try to figure out on my own. So I went to ask Master Dreyar what is happening.

"That brat Laxus just decided to throw this what he called 'Battle of Fairy Tail'. What you see there at the stage are the members petrified by Evergreen's magic." he explained.

He then explained further about defeating the younger Dreyar and his three followers within will free the rest of the petrified women or else they'll meet their demise. There's also this rune applied on the guild hall that people of age 80 and above can't leave here but for some reason, the dragon slayers are also affected by the barrier.

I tried to get past the door, and as expected, I passed without any problems at all. I guess pretty much confirmed about me not being a dragon slayer because I still have doubts about that topic up until now.

What I didn't take account for is that Dragneel was there the whole time. "That's not fair! Why Hachiman can get past the barrier yet I can't?" Well, that didn't last long.

"What do you mean, Natsu?" Master asked him.

"Because he's a dragon slayer!" This time, it was Happy who replied.

Soon, the ex-Phantom Lord mage Redfox also joined the questioning about when my dragon parent left me and other dragon slayer stuff. But every time they asked, I just denied all of them.

"Hey, just because I eat wood doesn't necessarily mean that I'm also a dragon slayer." I replied to them. "Besides, I just use Wood Molding and other basic magic from beginner's grimoire. I have no idea why I have this weird trait of eating wood."

Master Dreyar saw my discomfort and stopped the two dragon slayers from pestering me about dragon slayer stuff. "In any case, the remaining participants was updated to four, that means only Erza and Hachiman are left to fight."

I looked up to the door and saw the runes indeed updated the remaining participants to four. It means that the remaining participants are just these powerhouses and me who is a literal newbie to magic. "Do I really have to fight them?"

"I absolutely won't allow it but it's currently the best way to stop this nonsense."

"Are there any other options?" I asked.

"The other option is to give up my leadership to Laxus which is basically endangering the guild more." Wow, either way, we're fucked.

Looking at the portion of the runes where letters are readable, the number of participants just increased to five. That means another guild member just entered the town. I then turned towards the rest of the people inside, who were also glad upon seeing it.

"Now we have another mage that could fight against Laxus." Scarlet said.

"Eh, who will it be?" Dragneel asked.

"Have you forgotten, Natsu? There's still someone outside of town. It seem that he's back just in time."

To be honest, I have a good idea of who will it be. It can't be the one they call Gildarts because the city haven't transformed yet. So, if were talking about a certain mage that even Scarlet would recognize his strength. It must be...

"Mystogan?" I asked.

"Yes. Looks like the real war is about to begin. This is getting interesting." Scarlet replied.

"I'm lost. Who is this Mystogan you're talking about?" Redfox asked.

"Another candidate for being the strongest Fairy Tail wizard. He's the one who singlehandedly destroyed all of your former guild's branches."

After that, Scarlet went to fight Evergreen, whoever that is.

I guess that with all these developments, the situation here will get better. Well, two S-class wizards are about to join the fight. And if Scarlet really is the strongest woman in the guild, then she can just make a short work of this Evergreen woman that casted the petrifying spell on these other strong mages here.

Maybe I should also go out there and try to fight some of these Raijinshuu people. I'm pretty sure I will lose to them but they won't kill me. Right? I tried to catch up to Scarlet by stepping out of the guild. However, my path was blocked by Master Dreyar by extending his arms.

"You will not participate in the battle, Hachiman. Especially not since you haven't had a proper battle training yet."

To be honest, I was glad that he stopped me because now I have the perfect excuse for me not being beat up like the rest of the Fairy Tail mages. It's always the weak ones who are not in danger. Why? Because the strong tends to be the brave, and brave people are the ones on the front lines.

"Uh, okay. Wasn't really planning to die today anyway." I replied.

"All we can do for the mean time is wait here and hope for the best."

...

While absentmindedly staring at the runes at the door, I heard the stone statues make a quick breaking sound. It was then that the rune display updated to show that Evergreen was defeated. The women at the stage are finally freed, meaning that the Battle of Fairy Tail is now pointless.

I didn't paid much attention to the people at my back. All I know is that they were formulating some sort of strategy to find the younger Dreyar and defeat him to stop this madness once and for all. But suddenly, I saw huge yellow orbs starting to appear from the skies. Not knowing what it is, I went outside to get a better look at them.

Now that I've already taken a good look of the orbs, I saw the lightning bolt pattern inside them which I assume are lacrimas. What's worse is that they have already circled around Magnolia, meaning that these are something to be used on the town.

I hurried back to the guild, only to see floating runes that formed an image of a skull that just dissipated after I entered the hall. I didn't hear what the floating rune skull said to them but they all looked worried about what they've just heard from what I assume is the younger Dreyar. Judging by the time the lacrimas and the rune skull appeared, those lacrimas are what they're worried about and they must be destroyed.

And by that, I'm quite on point. Someone mentioned about the people of Magnolia as the hostage. That served as my queue to leave the guild hall to do something about the lacrimas.

If I'm not going to fight the Raijinshuu, then what I could help for this whole bullshit to end is by removing these lightning lacrimas. I may not be that much of a help when it comes to fighting, but it is always easy to attack a stationary target especially if your magic grants you full control over your projectile.

Making sure that I won't run out of magic, I quickly rode my wooden bicycle and went home without anyone knowing. The plan is to shoot at least twenty of them. And because there's enough trees there for me to eat, I could easily spam my attacks and take down these lacrimas without draininf my magic reserves.

To recover from being too sleepy from all that preparations for the festival, I quickly ate, or siphoned an entire small tree. One thing I've learned about eating my magic element is that I can just siphon all wooden things in front of me and they will just flow directly to my mouth. Surprisingly, I can actually eat wooden things that are more than twice my size.

Now for the moment of truth, I made a wooden spear with my newly recovered magic.

If I were to just throw this at the lacrima above me, I'm pretty sure this won't hit the target because of how high it is from the ground. However, molding magic grants me full control of all my creations under a certain time frame. That includes reducing our creations into plain ethernano particles in the air.

Back to the problem at hand. I launched the wooden spear to the lacrima at a power of what I thought is enough. As expected, the lacrima was destroyed after being hit quite hard by my spear.

However what I didn't account for was potential consequence of attacking the lacrima.

Just a few seconds after I successfully destroyed one lacrima, lightning bolt came down on me. The pain was indescribable that I instantly fell to the ground while the lightning continues to electrocute me.

"Aaah!" I screamed in pain

Meanwhile, I started to feel strange on the right side of my body. I can't tell whether I was just heavily injured there or my nerves are now damaged also. The pain slowly dissipated, replaced by an unknown sensation that is neither numb nor pain, not even an itch. I managed to glance at my right hand and saw the greenish black mark covering my hands again. The same mark that appeared on my 'fight' with Dragneel a few weeks ago. Once again, I suspected that this was my body reminding me that I'm going way past my limits this time.

After the lightning struck me, I'm actually surprised that it didn't hurt as much as I expected it to be. Well, it still hurt as hell but when you compare it to those reports of people being directly struck by lightning, which is an instant death by the way, this pain I felt is nothing. Maybe it's because this world operates on Pokemon logic where electric attacks are not very effective against grass type pokemons. And because I'm a Wood Molding magic user, I'm basically a grass type pokemon in this world.

Now I understand why everyone at the guild hall was worried about these lacrimas. There are still more or less three hundred of these and it caused me this level of pain just by destroying one.

But, it's because the number of the remaining lacrimas that I have to push myself, especially because the people that live around this area are the usual poor people living at the edge of the town.

This isn't you everyday school drama anymore where you can just turn your back and ignore them. Lives are on the line. I'm not a hero or anything, but one thing I stand is pushing the responsibility and blame to others when I have the means of doing it myself. These people here have almost nothing on them already and if I don't step outside my comfort and at least try to act heroic, they will perish just because the grandson of the strongest guild's master decided to throw a tantrum.

I once again ate a whole small tree to restore my stamina in preparation to the next attack. I then made a single wooden spear that I think is strong enough to break three lacrimas because those three are directly above the houses of the poor people nearby. Not to mention that I somehow gained enough confidence to take the combined lightning bolts of the three lacrimas.

And by that, I launched the spear and controlled its trajectory so that it can hit the lacrimas at once. Indeed, the lacrimas broke quite easier than last time. Now I have to brace myself for the incoming lightning bolt that will hit.

The lightning bolt did hit me but this time, it only hurt less than a quarter of last time. I don't know what happened with the strength of the lightning bolt but it's a welcome development for me.

Also, that strange feeling from the half of my body was starting to feel good. So good that I feel much stronger and faster. Either that or my pain receptor nerves were just badly damaged that they were sending wrong signals to my brain.

With that development, even if it's very irrational to do so, I decided to increase the number of lacrima that I destroy at a time. And as expected, the pain I felt actually increased but only to the same ratio as when I destroyed a lacrima the second time.

Call me crazy or irrational but I actually settled on attacking five lacrimas at a time. Five was the maximum number of lacrimas I can destroy because I can't handle the pain if I add another. Then after destroying, I would eat a huge branch of a tree to replenish my stamina before proceeding to another five lacrimas.

Now that I think about it, maybe it's because of these black marks on my arm that made me resist this otherwise deadly lightning bolts. That is because my resistance only increased after being hit once by the lightning bolt and after these marks appeared. I also felt my attacks becoming stronger. Either that or I'm just becoming a masochist.

For the 26th to 30th lacrimas, I'm already out of trees to eat because I'm now at the urban part of the town. Not to mention that my body is starting to feel the idiocy that I've done to it. After all, one's body can only take so much abuse.

I took a short rest by sitting on an alley, leaning on the tall building standing behind me. My whole body was already feeling almost completely numb. When I try to stand back up, my legs already gave up, making me fall instantly to the ground. My clothes aren't doing any better also. My T-shirt and long-sleeved undershirt were tattered and torn beyond recognition while my pants are only on a bit better condition than my top.

Luckily, I was near a wooden chair so what I did is crawl my way to it and siphoned it, much to the surprise of the child that was about to sit on it. With that, I somehow regained my strength to at least stand up.

The child looked up to me, probably confused if she was seeing a homeless man or a person beaten up by the local thugs. "Um... Are you okay, mister?" she asked.

"Uh... I can manage. Should you get back to your parents now?" I replied.

"Shoot! I have to go now. Bye fish-eye nii-san!" Again with the eyes.She then ran towards the direction that I assume where her parents are located. After the child was out of sight, I once again launched a wooden projectile to destroy five lacrimas.

Not long after, I am once again being struck by five lightning bolts. This time, I think I've finally reached my absolute limit. I instantly fell to the ground once again. I may still be conscious but the majority of my body aren't anymore. The only solace I could find in this situation is that I'm alive.

I looked at my left hand and saw the black marks fading, returning the normal color of my hand. From my experience with it, I think my temporary power up left along with it because the pain I'm feeling right now is starting to worsen. Questions to be asked later.

It took me long to notice that the place where I collapsed was actually a furniture shop. No wonder there was a wooden bench in front of it that looked very out of place. Maybe I could grab something there to eat. With that, I once again tried my best to crawl all the way to the entrance of the shop.

I was lucky that the person who I assume is the shop owner saw me being struck by the lightning bolts, so she picked me up and laid me on a long sofa inside the shop. To be honest, I am surprised that she was able to lift me up considering her age. But maybe, that was just an Earthland thing because I also gotten considerably stronger upon arriving here.

"So, what happened there, boy? It's already quite impossible to see someone being struck by a lightning, much less someone who survived!" the old lady asked.

"Don't worry ma'am, that was just a lightning magic and not the real deal." I replied, trying hard not to surprise the old lady so much.

"Lightning magic, you say? Who attacked you?"

"Uh no, ma'am. That was a part of the attractions that Fairy Tail made. Unfortunately, I faced some difficulties installing it, thus redirecting the magic to me and not to the sky." I lied while rolling the left sleeve of my tattered shirt to show my guild insignia.

This is one of the times that I have to lie for the best. If I were to say it flat out that they were being hostage by a insanely powerful man-child throwing tantrum, it will cause panic to the whole town. That is something left to be desired.

"Is that so? Well, if you're from Fairy Tail, then there's nothing much to be worried about knowing how that guild operates." She then brought some cookies and placed it on the small table next to me. "In any case, I think you could use some snacks so eat some up."

"T-Thank you, ma'am."

Seeing a free food being offered to me while I was in a desperate need of it, I didn't sass my way to reject her offer and just straight up picked the cookies and shoved them on my mouth.

But then suddenly, I heard a strange voice inside my head."

" Hey, can everyone hear me?"

With this magic world I'm living right now, I can't tell whether I'm just going crazy from all of that lightning bolts I've received earlier or there's someone communicating to me through telepathy. Just because I don't want to be labeled as someone with mental disability, I placed my bet towards the latter.

"This is an emergency! Look up in the sky!"

So they've finally realized how dire the situation is. Well, if it's the other members of the guild, I think they can take down more lacrimas than me considering that they are all experienced mages.

"Wake up, you lazy bums! And if there are still anyone there who's fighting, hold up for now! Listen up, everyone. We have to destroy all those floating things in the sky. It's a spell from Laxus that'll attack the town! There's no time! Everyone do it!"

Finally, I can now take my sweet time and rest up while they take over the job of removing those things out of the sky.

I stopped listening after the telepathy line became a group chat where everyone was just asking how the others are. As a person who doesn't have any actual connections with anyone, maybe besides Olietta, I didn't join to just unnecessarily crowd the telepathy line.

However, the line immediately became crowded with everyone fighting each other because of what happened during the Battle of Fairy Tail.

Anger immediately took over me along with the black marks on my right arm. To think that these assholes would fight in the middle of this upcoming massacre is way beyond my sanity could handle.

I immediately turned my attention towards the old lady. "Ma'am do you have any unused wood pieces. My guildmates informed me through telepathy that there's an emergency so I need all the magic sources I could get for this one."

"Oh. I don't think I understand much of what you've said but if it is an emergency, then I'll guide you to the backyard immediately."

And that she did. She guided me to the backyard where all the excess wood pieces are stored. I think these are just enough to fill my magic container. "Can I use all of these?"

"Well, they're wastes for a reason. If it can help you, then go for it." Just the signal I need.

With the fight of other guild members still ringing on my head, I sucked up all of the wood pieces in one go, causing the old lady to gasp in surprise of what she just saw. My body was still on a less than desirable state but my stamina and magic reserves have been restored completely.

"Thank you for that, Ma'am." I said to here while immediately leaving her furniture shop.

I quickly looked for an open area so that no people will be caught by the lightning bolts that will surely hit me after this extremely dangerous stunt I'm about to pull. There, I saw a surprisingly vacant street and immediately went there.

Yes, what I'm about to do might kill me for good this time and erase all my chances of going back to my home world, but I'm going to die anyway if these aren't destroyed. What's worse is that I will be dragging all these innocent lives with me if won't do so. And to be honest, a part of me actually believes that there's no way home for me, that I won't be going back to that life where the most serious problem I have to face is just an interschool Christmas event.

"I think this is it. If I would really kick the bucket here, I hope there's only one heaven for both Earthland and Earth so that I could see you there, Komachi." I muttered while trying to concentrate my magic to what I feel is the most suitable spot, in my mouth.

I then looked above and aimed my sight towards the line of lacrimas that I didn't bother to count anymore. When I felt that I've already gathered all my magic on my mouth, I braced myself.

"You know what? I don't care anymore! Fuck this festival! Fuck you Laxus Dreyar! And most of all, FUCK YOU EARTHLAND!"

I unleashed all of my magic power which manifested in a huge tornado of sharp leaves and wooden shards towards the line of lacrimas. I don't know what spell was that. All I know is that it connected all my magic power and raw anger.

When the attack dissipated, all I just saw was the sparkling powdered bits of the destroyed lacrima before I lost consciousness even if the lightning bolts are still yet to hit me.

...

A/N: This spoiler won't matter that much but yeah, 8man just fell unconscious and didn't die. Also, I think anyone can tell that I'm now working on making him OP.

I hope I delivered properly the irrationality that the devil slayer magic gives to the user as a side effect. By the way, that last attack of his is a Wood Devil's Rage spell.

Thank you for reading!