Chapter 528 - 528: A New Wave of Darkness

The moment Lucy shouted that name, the white-robed man's heart skipped a beat.

He recovered almost immediately.

"You think I'm stupid enough to turn around because of that?! We already investigated him! The Fairy God of Death was critically injured in that battle and has been missing for nearly half a year. He's probably been dead this whole time!"

Lucy didn't even bother answering.

She simply kept waving excitedly at someone behind him.

Then the subordinate beside the white-robed man timidly tugged on his sleeve.

"Kusin…"

His voice trembled.

"I don't think she's lying."

Kusin's mouth twitched.

He slowly turned around.

At the entrance to the alley stood a tall figure, his silhouette blocking much of the light from the street beyond.

A man in a long coat was walking toward them with something vaguely human-shaped dangling from one hand.

The closer he came, the heavier the two cultists' expressions became.

Ankh entered the alley at an unhurried pace.

Then, with a casual flick of his wrist, he tossed the man in his hand—the gunman who had fired at Lucy from hiding and whom Ankh had already strangled to death—straight into a nearby trash bin.

Only then did he turn his indifferent gaze toward the two men in white.

Neither of them knew exactly what to make of him yet.

But judging from that entrance alone, they were becoming increasingly certain that this really was the infamous Fairy God of Death—the man known for the simple philosophy that if someone deserved killing, there was no point merely injuring them.

Because seriously—what normal person made an entrance like that?

Ankh gave the pair a single glance, no more interested in them than he would have been in roadside garbage.

Then the coldness on his face disappeared.

He raised a hand toward Lucy and smiled warmly.

"So it really is you, Lucy. I just got back from Edolas and was almost at the guild when I heard a gunshot over here, so I came to take a look."

Lucy nodded excitedly.

"Talk about perfect timing! Now I don't have to rush anymore!"

Ankh glanced at Taurus, Capricorn, and Loke with genuine surprise.

"Your Celestial Spirit Magic has gotten pretty impressive. You can keep three spirits summoned at once now?"

The three Celestial Spirits greeted him cheerfully.

Lucy scratched the back of her head, looking both embarrassed and pleased.

"I owe a lot of that to Capricorn. He's been putting me through some pretty brutal training."

"Sounds like everyone's improved over the last six months."

Ankh reached into the bag he carried and pulled out a book.

The title on the cover read: The Adventures of Iris.

He looked down at the author's name printed beneath it and smiled.

"So you finally started chasing that dream of becoming a novelist too. From what I saw on the way here, this book seems to be selling really well."

"Ah, well…"

Lucy immediately broke into a bashful but unmistakably proud grin.

"It only came out last month. I had a lot of help from Dad and Miss Frey, though. I honestly wouldn't have known where to start without them…"

"You did great. I saw people lining up outside bookstores to buy it."

"Hehe… that's probably because it's still new."

Lucy's eyes lit up.

"Honestly, I'm more excited about the literary awards at the end of the year than the sales numbers."

Ankh raised an eyebrow.

"Your first novel just came out and you're already aiming for awards?"

"Ahahaha…"

The two of them started chatting as casually as though they had run into each other on an ordinary evening stroll.

Unfortunately, the two white-robed cultists were still standing directly between them.

Their bodies grew tenser and tenser.

Eventually, Kusin couldn't take it anymore.

"ENOUGH!!"

He roared so loudly that his voice echoed through the alley.

Pointing furiously at Ankh, he screamed,

"Gathering excessive Magic Power is a sin! Especially you! As followers of the doctrine of Whiteout, we can never allow someone like you—or a guild like Fairy Tail—to continue existing!"

"And you two have the nerve to ignore me?! Huh?! Am I not standing right here?! Do you not even consider me a person—"

BOOM!

The subordinate in white immediately crouched against the wall, trembling like a frightened animal.

He stared in horror at Kusin.

Or more specifically—at Kusin's head, which had just been slapped straight into the ground.

Ankh pulled his hand back with an irritated click of his tongue.

"You really don't know when to shut up."

Lucy showed absolutely no surprise at seeing the dangerous-looking cultist flattened with a single slap.

Ankh, meanwhile, turned his attention toward the remaining white-robed man cowering beside the wall.

"When did Magnolia's security get this bad?"

In the past, Fairy Tail's presence alone had kept most serious criminal organizations away from Magnolia.

That didn't mean crime had never existed.

There were still petty gangs and small-time thieves here and there.

But operations involving human trafficking and organ sales had always stayed hidden.

Nobody would have dared openly ambush people in the streets while working alongside some deranged cult.

Lucy gave a bitter shake of her head.

"Ever since the war six months ago, the dark side of Ishgar has gone completely insane."

Ankh had read about some of the changes in the letters everyone had sent him.

But hearing about it was one thing.

Seeing criminals bold enough to abduct people off the street in Magnolia itself was another.

Lucy studied the remaining cultist for a moment, searching her memory.

"If I remember right, this White Magic Cult is one of the larger cult organizations that's been causing trouble throughout Ishgar recently."

It was almost as though Zeref's rise had emboldened every dark organization that had once been driven underground or forced to operate in secret.

Among the many groups now spreading throughout Ishgar, two in particular had become especially dangerous: the Black Magic Cult and the White Magic Cult.

"The Black Magic Cult was supposedly founded by people who worship Zeref," Lucy explained as they started walking toward the guild.

Behind them, all of the defeated attackers floated helplessly through the air, restrained by Ankh's Gravity Magic.

"They have branches everywhere. None of their mages are individually as dangerous as the monsters who used to belong to the Balam Alliance, but there are so many of them that wiping the organization out has been almost impossible."

Lucy frowned.

"The White Magic Cult is a lot more mysterious."

"Apparently it originally spread here from Guiltina and had already been hiding in Ishgar for a long time before all of this happened."

"They believe that 'excessive Magic Power is a sin.' I don't know much more than that, though."

She thought for a moment.

"Oh, but Jellal and the others have been investigating them recently."

"Jellal…"

A knowing smile appeared on Ankh's face.

Crime Sorcière had earned considerable credit during the war six months ago.

Because of that, the Magic Council had more or less stopped treating them as ordinary fugitives.

Their status had become something of an open secret—a group the Council officially tolerated while quietly looking the other way.

The pursuit orders against them had already been suspended.

At this rate, it probably wouldn't be long before Jellal and the others could finally walk openly beneath the sun again.

Ankh had been considering asking Jellal about the White Magic Cult later.

But the moment Lucy pushed open that familiar guild door, every other thought disappeared from his mind.

"ANKH!!"

A deafening wave of cheers crashed over him.

Everyone in the guild had apparently been waiting there the entire time.

Voices blended together as familiar faces came rushing toward him, laughing and crying at once.

Before Ankh knew it, he had an entire pile of overgrown children clinging to him from every direction.

He looked around at those tear-streaked, smiling faces and finally let out a helpless laugh.

Well…

Whatever problems were waiting outside could wait a little longer.

For now, he was home.