Chapter 543 - 543: A Melancholy Night

Ankh put away the Magic Mobile Phone he had been using to record Zash's confession, then disposed of the corpse by burying it deep in the forest some distance away.

Considering the sheer number of diseases Ophiuchus had piled onto him, the man had practically become a biological weapon by the time he died.

Cleaning up properly was probably for the best.

Once Zash was safely buried, Lucy hugged Dragon Cry against her chest and looked troubled.

"I wonder what's going to happen to all those girls Zash captured…"

During the interrogation, once the pain had broken him down enough to stop caring what came out of his mouth, Zash had confessed to practically every crime he had ever committed.

Even now, many of the women he had abused were still imprisoned in the dungeon beneath his residence.

Lucy was kind enough to accept that someone like Zash deserved to die.

What she couldn't accept was leaving his victims trapped in the same nightmare after he was gone.

Erza thought for a moment.

"Once Dragon Cry is safely returned, we can come back to Stella with the Magic Council."

Her expression hardened.

"We'll free them ourselves."

They now had Zash's recorded confession proving that Stella had indeed been cooperating with the Black Magic Cult.

The next time they entered the kingdom, there would be no need to sneak around.

For the moment, however, they were still guild mages on an active assignment.

Completing the mission came first.

Ankh looked at Dragon Cry in Lucy's arms.

"Turning every human on the continent into a dragon…"

He frowned.

"I still don't sense enough power in that staff to accomplish something on that scale. Is it possible the Black Magic Cult is just playing Stella's king for a fool?"

Natsu nodded vigorously.

"Yeah. Turning people into dragons doesn't sound like something one staff should be able to do."

The logic was simple enough.

Acnologia had slaughtered dragons by the hundreds, and even he didn't possess some effortless ability to turn the entire human race into dragons.

So why would a collection of residual souls left behind by dragons he had already killed somehow be capable of doing it?

"Maybe there's some special method involved."

Gray didn't seem particularly bothered by the contradiction.

"Magic's basically the art of making impossible things possible anyway."

Ankh nodded.

"Fair enough. No point guessing with no information."

He looked around at the others.

"Let's get some sleep."

Everyone agreed.

After finishing a simple dinner, they returned to their respective tents.

...

Not long afterward, Ankh suddenly opened his eyes.

Someone was very carefully sneaking into his tent.

Erza froze midway through the entrance.

(づ ●─● )づ

Ankh stared at her with a blank, almost cartoonishly confused expression.

Her cheeks immediately turned red.

"What is it?"

After finally crossing the line neither of them had dared cross for years, Ankh and Erza's relationship had officially changed from something resembling siblings into that of lovers.

Natsu and the others still had no idea.

Mostly because it had never occurred to them that the older-brother figure they respected so much could turn out to be a shameless man who loved two women at once.

Ankh had no defense against that accusation.

He really did love both of them.

He still had no idea what Mirajane and Erza had whispered about afterward, but the next time he saw Mirajane, she had somehow seemed more relaxed than before.

And now that Erza finally understood the difference between familial affection and romantic attraction, one change had become particularly obvious.

She had grown considerably more clingy.

Which was why, under Ankh's increasingly suspicious gaze, Erza's blush deepened.

Realizing exactly what direction his thoughts were heading, she quickly spoke first.

"Um… what do you think about what Lucy said earlier?"

Ankh paused.

"You mean the imprisoned girls?"

Erza nodded.

Her expression became heavier as she moved closer and sat beside him.

"When I was little, the Black Magic Cult imprisoned and tortured me too."

"I know what that feels like."

She lowered her voice.

"Zash is dead now, so the person directly hurting them is gone. But those girls still haven't escaped."

"And Stella is still dangerous for them. It's the Black Magic Cult's main base. Even without Zash, there are plenty of other monsters there."

Erza looked down.

"So I just think…"

"The sooner we get them out, the better."

Her voice became quieter with every word.

Ankh watched her in the dim moonlight.

There was sadness in her eyes, but also the same stubborn determination he had known for years.

Eventually, he sighed.

His heart had already softened.

"Alright."

"Once everyone's rested, we split into two groups."

"Natsu and Gray can escort Dragon Cry back."

He reached over and gently rested a hand on her head.

"You and I will go rescue the prisoners."

"Happy?"

A beautiful smile immediately blossomed across Erza's face, bright enough that for an instant she looked less like Titania and more like some delighted princess.

Lucy and Erza were both deeply kind people, but their strength worked in very different ways.

Lucy was soft on the outside and almost impossibly strong at her core.

She could be flustered, embarrassed, bullied, or reduced to tears by the smallest things, yet when something truly mattered, very little in the world could shake her conviction.

Erza was almost the opposite.

Her exterior was an impenetrable suit of armor.

No hardship seemed capable of breaking through it, which was why everyone saw her as the invincible Fairy Queen.

But beneath that armor was an extraordinarily tender heart.

And once someone reached that place, Erza was simply a painfully soft-hearted girl.

"Thank you…"

She leaned forward and hugged him.

"Bro…"

The word came with an obvious hesitation.

She had been lying awake, unable to stop thinking about those imprisoned girls, and that was ultimately why she had come to ask Ankh to change their plans.

Ankh wrapped his arms around her and heard the uncertainty in her voice.

He smiled and stroked her hair.

"You can keep calling me that if you want."

"Just treat it like a pet name."

He chuckled softly.

"I actually like hearing it."

"…Okay."

Erza's reply came muffled against his chest.

She stayed there for a long time without lifting her head.

Just as always, it was only around family that Erza allowed the strongest parts of herself to relax.

Here, she didn't need to be Titania.

She didn't need to pretend nothing could hurt her.

She simply held onto Ankh in silence while he gently patted her back, comforting the unusually vulnerable Fairy Queen until her breathing gradually became slower.

Then—

"ENEMY ATTACK!!"

Ankh's eyes snapped open before the shout had even finished.

Outside the tent, Natsu's roar was immediately followed by a violent chain of fiery explosions.

Erza jolted out of the drowsy haze she had been slipping into.

She scrambled upright, exchanged one glance with Ankh, and both rushed outside.

The moment they emerged, a scorching wave of heat rolled over them.

The area around Natsu's tent was already engulfed in flames.

Erza narrowed her eyes.

In an instant, the vulnerable woman from moments earlier disappeared, replaced by the sharp, commanding presence of Titania.

"Natsu's using flames that hot."

Her expression became serious.

"Whoever attacked us isn't weak."

Lucy and Wendy hurried out behind them, still dressed in their sleepwear.

Lucy had not forgotten Dragon Cry for even a second and was clutching the staff tightly against her chest.

Ankh glanced at the tense girls, then turned toward Erza.

"Protect Dragon Cry."

Erza immediately stepped in front of Lucy and Wendy.

"Understood."

Ahead of them, the intense heat suddenly plummeted.

Gray's ice had entered the fight.

Natsu and Gray had shared a tent, and they had also been responsible for guarding Zancrow.

Zancrow knew even more about the Black Magic Cult than Zash had.

Which meant there was a good chance the attackers had come specifically to silence or recover him.

Thick steam rolled across the campsite as fire and ice collided.

Then Natsu and Gray emerged through the mist.

Standing across from them was a green-haired woman dressed in revealing clothing.

The moment Lucy saw her face, her expression changed completely.

Her eyes widened in shock.

'Her?!'

That was the woman who had hunted her down on Tenrou Island all those years ago.