Chapter 539 - 539: A Demon Returns?

The moment Zash's blood-red eyes locked onto Lucy, a flash of panic crossed her face.

Then her body moved on its own.

"My body!"

Lucy cried out in alarm.

Ankh didn't even turn around.

He casually raised one hand behind him and cast a spell.

A magic circle completely different from his old Gravity Magic spread through the air, bathing Lucy in a soft crimson glow.

The strange force controlling her vanished instantly, and her body stopped moving against her will.

"Huh?"

Lucy stared down at herself in surprise.

Zash stared at Ankh in disbelief.

Ankh said nothing, though inwardly he couldn't help admiring just how useful High Enchantment Magic was in practice.

The spell he had just used was Separation Enchantment, a branch technique derived from High Enchantment.

If High Enchantment allowed the caster to add an enormous variety of properties to a target, then Separation Enchantment did the opposite—it stripped those properties away.

In Lucy's case, Ankh had simply removed the condition of "being controlled" from her body.

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!"

Zash roared in fury.

His eyes widened until they looked ready to pop out of his skull as he desperately poured more Magic Power into his spell.

It still did absolutely nothing to Ankh.

"Dark Blade!"

Realizing Zash had been pushed into a corner, Rustyrose immediately activated his Arc of Embodiment and created an enormous arm that swept toward Ankh.

Gray stepped in before it could reach him.

His hair swept back as the demonic transformation spread across half his body once again. With one swing of an ice katana, he severed the manifested arm cleanly.

Kain Hikaru tried to break through from the other side.

Erza gave him no such opportunity.

Her movements were far too smooth and precise for him to get anywhere near her hair, meaning he had no material with which to activate his Ushi no Koku Mairi against her.

Left with no other option, Kain used his curse doll on himself and transformed his body into mist, trying to slip through Erza's attacks.

Instead, he nearly got roasted alive by her Flame Empress's Sword.

With his signature magic completely shut down, Zash became increasingly desperate.

He threw out one Black Magic trick after another, only for Ankh to dismantle every single one.

Eventually, Ankh lost patience and slapped him unconscious.

"Let him go!"

The instant Rustyrose saw Zash crumple, panic finally entered his voice.

He tried to break away from Gray and rush to his aid, but Gray simply kept him pinned down and beat him back every time he tried.

Rustyrose couldn't understand it.

Where the hell had these people come from?

He and Kain were both powerful mages who had once stood among the elite of the continent.

Yet these strangers were overwhelming them.

What Rustyrose didn't realize was that Gray had already reached the obvious conclusion.

'We kept getting stronger.'

'You guys got weaker.'

Grimoire Heart was gone.

Rustyrose and Kain had spent years surviving under the protection of the Black Magic Cult rather than relentlessly pushing themselves forward.

Now the difference was painfully obvious.

"Got him. We're leaving."

Ankh slung the unconscious Zash over one shoulder like a sack of grain, grabbed Lucy with his free hand, and lightly vaulted onto the rooftops.

Gray and Erza each unleashed one final attack to force their opponents back, then followed immediately.

Their figures disappeared into the city within seconds.

Kain, breathing heavily, moved to chase after them.

Rustyrose stopped him.

"What are you doing?!"

Kain turned around anxiously.

"If Zash gets taken away, that person is going to blame us!"

Rustyrose's face was pale.

He pressed one hand against his side, then slowly removed it so Kain could see what had happened.

Faint purple frost had spread across his waist.

The cold wasn't merely freezing his flesh.

It was seeping into him like poison.

Rustyrose could feel something terrifying inside that ice, as though a starving demon were slowly chewing its way through his body.

"With our current strength, we might not even beat those two."

His voice was strained.

"And the man who looked like their leader barely fought at all."

"If we chase them blindly, there's a good chance neither of us comes back."

Kain could only stomp the ground in frustration.

Rustyrose was equally furious, but beneath that anger lay a growing suspicion.

Since when had Ishgar produced a group of criminals this skilled and ruthless?

Then he remembered something.

Zash had assumed they were from Fiore.

A powerful ice mage.

A woman who used Requip.

People strong enough to suppress both him and Kain.

Rustyrose's eyes suddenly widened.

There was only one guild in Fiore that fit.

His face darkened immediately.

"Fairy Tail…"

He ground the words out through clenched teeth.

Then he turned sharply toward Kain.

"We're leaving."

"We need to report this immediately."

...

Rustyrose had finally figured out who they were, but at this point it hardly mattered.

The mission had already succeeded.

And without proof, Stella's king wasn't going to pick a fight with Fairy Tail merely because two former criminals claimed they had been attacked.

Ankh and the others raced across the rooftops and quickly spotted the part of the city that had descended into chaos.

Gray rubbed his forehead.

"That idiot Natsu really did blow the infiltration."

Soldiers were pouring toward the palace from every direction.

Before long, Carla appeared in the distance carrying Wendy, with a huge number of troops chasing behind them.

Ankh immediately raised one hand.

Heat surged through the previously clear sky.

A fireball suddenly formed behind Wendy.

Then it dropped.

BOOM!

The flames exploded among the pursuing soldiers, instantly scattering their formation and leaving the street filled with groans and cries.

"That was amazing!"

Wendy looked back in surprise before landing safely with the others.

She held out Dragon Cry.

"I got it, but Natsu-san is still inside. He told me to leave first."

Ankh looked toward the growing unrest spreading through the city and frowned.

"We leave the city first."

"Happy can use Aqua Aera. As long as Natsu doesn't get stubborn and start fighting everyone he sees, he'll be fine."

Everyone agreed.

They quickly changed their appearances, packed Dragon Cry and Zash out of sight, loaded everything onto their vehicle, and slipped through the city gates amid the confusion.

...

As for Natsu…

Exactly what everyone expected had happened.

He had gotten completely carried away.

Happy had already tried several times to convince him to leave.

Natsu refused.

Meanwhile, Bluenote—who had been so arrogant when the battle began—was now in terrible shape.

Against Natsu's Fire Dragon King Mode, he was barely managing to hold his ground.

The brat he once hadn't considered worth noticing now possessed Magic Power far beyond anything Bluenote had expected.

Natsu still looked like he was warming up.

Bluenote was already drenched in sweat.

Humiliation and desperation gradually twisted his expression.

Like a gambler who had lost everything and refused to accept it, his eyes turned bloodshot.

"You damned fairy…"

His face contorted.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Something inside Bluenote suddenly activated.

His body swelled violently.

Flesh expanded and twisted until his entire form became a grotesque, pulsating mass, his body reconstructing itself inside the disgusting tumor-like shell.

A sharp, foul smell spread through the air.

Natsu immediately frowned.

Then the mass split apart.

Bluenote emerged from within.

Natsu's eyes widened.

That body…

That presence…

"What the hell…?"

He stared at the creature in front of him.

"A demon?!"