Ben entered the castle and followed the directions Bella gave him. Some soldiers tried to stop him but they were unsuccessful. Then a human-sized black Exceed in a suit of armor and wielding a big sword stopped them in their tracks.
"Another captain of the Royal Army, Panther Lily." Ben said, unimpressed.
"As we expected, you would come here to save your guild mates, Demon Lord. It seems you've defeated Hughes and Sugarboy, but I won't-" Lily wasn't able to finish his sentence because Ben teleported in front of him.
Ben kicked Lily with his left leg and sent him crashing into a wall. The impact destroyed the wall and left a big hole behind. Lily was injured, but wasn't knocked out like the other 2. Ben used a lot more power than when he slammed the 2 captains to the ground, so he was impressed by Lily's durability.
"You're tougher than the last 2. Maybe it's because you're an Exceed and you can store magic power inside your body." Ben assumed as he grabbed Lily's head.
"Ugh, such power. Are you really Ben Silverstone? I don't remember you being this strong before." Lily asked as he tried to free himself from Ben's grip, but to no avail.
"Well, I am Ben, that's all you need to know for the time being. Now, sleep!" Ben cast a Sleep Spell on Lily and he fell asleep almost immediately.
After putting Lily to sleep, Ben resumed his search for Wendy with Bella still on his head. Some soldiers still try to stop him which annoyed him. He defeated them all and eventually reached the underground jail.
Ben looked around and finally spotted Wendy and Natsu in a cell. Natsu is noisier than usual because he broke the cell door without his magic. This annoyed Ben, so he blasted the door with a strong kick.
"You really need to work on your muscles more than your mouth, Natsu. Being noisy won't solve most of your problems. Anyway here, eat it and you will be able to use your magic again." Ben said as he gave Natsu and Wendy the pills he received from Mystogan.
"What's this?" Wendy asked.
"A gift from Mystogan. Anyway, wasn't Lucy with you? Where is she?" Ben questioned the pair.
"I don't know. She wasn't here when I woke up." Natsu admitted after taking the pill.
Natsu tried to use his magic and he can use it normally now. It intrigued Ben a bit because Natsu's magic power doesn't seem to be affected by the thin Ethernano in this place.
'Hmm, maybe because his spell's power is not as high as mine, so the difference isn't too clear. Well, that's not a bad thing because that means he can use his magic normally.' Ben thought.
Ben wanted to say something, but before he could, Natsu ran off. He can only sigh and let Natsu do what he wants. It would tire him off if he kept telling Natsu what to do because the Pyro will never listen.
"Let's find Lucy, then we'll search for Carla and Happy. Natsu will cause a ruckus so we can search without being interrupted." Ben said.
"Yes." Wendy replied with a sad expression.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?" Ben asked.
"No, it's about Carla." Wendy said.
She then told Ben about what happened before. It seems that the Exceeds which are Carla, Bella and Happy were sent to Earthland to capture the Dragon Slayers.
"Did Carla say that?" Ben asked.
"No, it was the bad Erza-san." Wendy replied.
Ben smiled and rubbed her hair. "Then don't think about it too much. You two are best friends, right? So why don't you just believe in her now and then ask her about it later?"
"But the bad Erza-san and the soldiers-" Wendy was cut off.
"Do you believe them or Carla?" Ben asked.
"Carla." Wendy answered without any hesitation.
"That's the right answer." Ben said with a smile.
They look around the jail and finally find Lucy. She was chained up and had pieces of wood around her head, unlike Wendy and Natsu. Ben guessed it must be because Edo Lucy is more dangerous than Edo Natsu and the kingdom mistook Lucy for Edo Lucy.
Lucy was happy to see Ben and Wendy, but she's confused because Natsu wasn't with them. Wendy explained why while Ben freed her from the chains and wood locks. He didn't have the keys so he simply broke the wood and cut the chains.
"Alright, let's get out of here before that idiot causes a mess that he can't take care of alone." Ben said.
The others nod and they leave the underground jail. When they arrive outside, they come across a big commotion. Natsu is currently fighting Edolas Erza and surprisingly he was on the verge of losing even though he can use his magic.
"This Erza is quite strong. At least she's stronger than the other 2 captains and a little stronger than Lily." Ben said.
"What should we do?" Lucy asked.
"I'll help him out. We don't have time for this." Ben answered.
But before he could do anything, someone else moved first and helped Natsu. It was Earthland Erza. She was easily recognizable due to her armor. Then someone else flew over to Ben's group. It was Mira in her Satan Soul form.
"How did you get free?" Ben asked.
"Gajeel. He used his Dragon Slayer Magic to free us. I was with Erza when the incident happened so we were trapped together. We were turned into the lacrima in the plaza." Mira explained as she reverted back to normal.
"Dragon Slayer Magic can be used to cancel the effect? Damn, why didn't Mystogan tell me about this?" Ben asked.
"Maybe he doesn't know." Mira said.
"No, he knows. He wouldn't have given the pills to Gajeel otherwise. That means he knew that Gajeel can free the ones that were trapped in the lacrima." Ben said.
"Maybe not all Dragon Slayer Magic can be used to do it. Gajeel's magic might be the only one that can be used to free the hostages. Your magic might destroy the lacrima." Lucy theorized.
"Hmm, it's possible. Or maybe he doesn't want to cause a big ruckus by freeing everyone. We just need to free a few then send the rest back through the Reverse Anima plan." Ben mused.
"Reverse Anima?" Mira asked.
"Yeah, it's a way to return everyone to normal. I can't go into detail right now. We need to leave this place first. Also, I have something that I need to tell you, Mira." Ben said.
Everyone nods and they move to leave the castle. Many soldiers try to stop them but they were easily dealt with by Ben and Mira. They almost reached Natsu and Erza's location when 2 small figures fly towards them.
"Carla!" Bella happily shouted as she flew towards Carla.
"I'm here too, you know." Happy protested, but Bella ignored him.
"Carla, you've finally returned and you can fly now. Bella told me you couldn't fly before." Ben said in relief.
"Yeah, I had too much on my mind. Happy did as well. I thought it was strange because Bella could fly easily, but now I know the reason why. It's because she doesn't have to worry about anything, she was convinced you would save us. Also she is always carefree about everything, so her heart doesn't waver." Carla admitted.
"Eh, did you not believe in me? Big brother is sad." Ben said teasingly while making some fake tears.
"N-no, I believe in you. But I was doubting myself. Also Wendy, I'm sorry for everything." Carla apologized.
"It's okay Carla, but you need to explain everything later." Wendy accepted it.
Carla nodded and they proceeded to leave the castle again. This time, a lot of Exceeds came to catch Bella, Carla and Happy because they were judged to be Fallen. Ben got ready to attack the Exceeds when suddenly a beam was fired from the castle towards the Exceeds and they turned into a giant Exceed-shaped lacrima.