Chapter 289

Chapter 289: Chapter 289

Ultear and Meredy vanished from the spot a fraction of a second before Zeref’s curse swept over them.

Happy disappeared as well.

Ultear blinked in surprise and looked toward the little Lucy standing beside them.

"Greed? Why are you here?"

A bad feeling immediately struck her.

If one of Marshall’s Apostles had been watching from nearby, didn’t that mean Marshall might already know she had ignored his instructions?

Greed simply smiled. "Master ordered me to protect the two of you from the shadows. You’re the only ones here without Fairy Tail guild marks, so you were the most likely to be in danger."

"Natsu!"

Happy didn’t care about any of that.

Greed still had him dangling by the scruff of his neck, and the moment he realized Natsu hadn’t been teleported out with them, he cried out and immediately flew back toward his partner.

"Natsu! Are you okay?!"

Natsu was still standing where the black wave had passed.

He looked far more angry than injured.

"What the hell was that?!" Natsu shouted as he grabbed his scarf. "You bastard! What did you do?! Look at this!"

The scarf Igneel had left him had turned completely black.

Only then did Natsu notice Zancrow lying motionless nearby.

Happy had initially relaxed when he saw Natsu unharmed, but the sight of the Fire God Slayer’s body made him scream.

"N-Natsu! H-He’s dead?!"

Happy suddenly realized how close he himself had come to dying.

If Greed hadn’t grabbed him along with Ultear and Meredy, he might have been lying there too.

Zeref looked toward Zancrow’s corpse with clear guilt in his eyes.

"I’m sorry. Has another life disappeared because of me?"

His gaze dropped.

"But I still can’t control it."

Then he noticed Greed.

"A demon?"

Zeref studied her more carefully.

"No... you’re something else. Another artificial life-form?"

His expression changed slightly as he reached a conclusion.

"Was she created by the other person cursed by Ankhseram? If so, I suppose it makes sense that Ankhseram noticed him."

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

Natsu had finally had enough.

From his perspective, Zeref had just killed someone in front of him and was now standing there discussing Greed like nothing had happened.

Fire surged around Natsu’s fist as he rushed forward and punched Zeref directly in the face.

The blow sent Zeref flying.

Ultear’s eyes widened. "Wait, Natsu! That’s Zeref!"

Natsu turned back toward her. "You know me?"

He stared at her for another second.

"And why do you look kind of like one of Marshall’s maids? Whatever, that’s not important. Thanks for saving Happy, but that guy killed my target!"

Natsu pointed angrily toward Zancrow.

"I needed him to advance to the next round of the exam!"

Ultear was speechless.

They were standing in front of the most infamous Black Mage in magical history, and Natsu was still thinking about his S-Class exam!

Then again, perhaps that was exactly what she should have expected from someone in Fairy Tail.

Zeref slowly stood up.

"Natsu... you’re still too weak."

Natsu frowned.

"With that level of strength, you’ll never be able to kill me."

"What are you mumbling about? Do I know you or something?"

Zeref smiled faintly.

"I’m your older brother, Natsu."

Natsu froze.

"What?!"

For reasons he couldn’t explain, a strange panic rose in his chest.

"What kind of nonsense is that?! I’m a dragon’s son! I don’t have an older brother! Who the hell are you, and why are you on our guild’s island?!"

"I came because of an old friend," Zeref replied. "Being able to see you again after you grew up was an unexpected gift."

He looked at Natsu with an expression full of affection and sorrow.

"If you don’t welcome me here, I’ll leave soon. Before I go, though, let me give you one final gift."

Zeref raised one hand.

A ray of black light shot toward Natsu.

Natsu instinctively tried to dodge, only to discover that his body wouldn’t move.

By the time he recovered, the light had already entered him, and he felt as though something unfamiliar had suddenly appeared inside his mind—information he couldn’t understand yet, but which was undeniably there.

Then he blinked.

Zeref was gone.

Only his voice seemed to linger behind.

"Natsu, keep getting stronger. Become strong enough to kill me."

There was a strange tenderness in the final words.

"Goodbye, my dear little brother."

Natsu shook his head hard and looked around. "Where’d he go?! He ran away? Damn it! Who the hell was that guy? He shows up, says a bunch of weird stuff, and disappears!"

"I already told you," Ultear said helplessly. "That was the Black Mage Zeref."

"Never heard of him."

Ultear stared at him.

Natsu, meanwhile, picked up his blackened scarf with an ugly expression.

"That bastard... He ruined the scarf Igneel gave me."

Then he paused.

"Huh?"

The black color was fading.

More accurately, it seemed to be getting absorbed.

Natsu could feel some strange kind of energy passing from the scarf into his body.

He stared at it in confusion as the darkness gradually disappeared until the scarf returned to normal.

"What the hell just happened?"

He turned it over a few times, failed to understand any of it, and then did what Natsu usually did when faced with something beyond him.

He stopped thinking about it.

Instead, he walked over to Zancrow’s corpse.

"If the enemy’s dead, that should still count as me winning, right?"

He grabbed the body.

"Come on, Happy. Let’s go turn in the mission."

"Aye!"

Natsu didn’t bother questioning Ultear any further.

She smelled faintly of Marshall, so she was probably one of their people.

He still had fights waiting for him and wasn’t interested in wasting time.

Meredy, on the other hand, was still trying to process everything that had just happened.

"Ultear... what do we do now?"

Ultear looked toward Greed.

The little Apostle smiled. "Ultear-sama should leave the island as quickly as possible. Once you’re safely away, I can go help the others. The other Apostles still need me."

Ultear hesitated briefly before nodding. "All right. We’re leaving."

She was disappointed that she hadn’t learned more about the curse from Zeref, but chasing after him now would be pointless.

Hades was probably too busy fighting for his own survival to notice what she did anyway, so the safest choice was to take Meredy away from Tenrou Island while she had the opportunity.

As for whatever punishment Marshall might give her after discovering that she had disobeyed him and approached Zeref anyway...

Ultear found herself feeling strangely expectant.

...

By the time Natsu returned to the camp carrying Zancrow’s corpse, most of the fighting there had already ended.

The place was still chaotic, but now the trouble came from Fairy Tail itself.

Gray and Gajeel were arguing at the top of their lungs.

"You damn scrap-metal bastard! I beat that guy! Get away from him!"

"Hah? I landed the finishing blow. Everyone saw it. What does that have to do with you?"

"Then let’s fight for it! You kill-stealing bastard!"

Evergreen and Freed were having a similar argument nearby.

Apparently even the Thunder God Tribe’s friendship had limits when an S-Class promotion slot was involved.

Everyone was fighting over who deserved which victory.

As for Grimoire Heart’s officers, they were all down.

The ordinary soldiers had either surrendered or been captured, and Levy was already using Magic to restrain and organize the prisoners.

Natsu immediately brightened.

At least nobody could steal his target now.

Then Erza emerged from the forest, dragging the battered and barely conscious Azuma behind her. She looked over the noisy battlefield before raising her voice.

"That’s enough. Anyone who isn’t seriously injured and still has enough strength to continue the exam, come with me. We’re going to reinforce the Master and Laxus."

Freed’s expression changed immediately.

"What? Laxus is in danger?!"

He shot away before anyone could stop him.

Natsu pumped a fist into the air. "All right! I advan—"

Then he stopped.

"Wait a second."

He stared at Erza.

"Everyone can go?"

"Yes."

"Then why the hell did I spend all that time chasing this guy for a qualification slot?!"

Erza waved the complaint aside. "This isn’t the time to worry about that. The opponents Makarov and Laxus are facing are nothing like the ones you just fought. The next battle will be much harder, so stop arguing and get yourselves ready."

She drew her sword and turned toward the next battlefield.

"Fairy Tail—move out!"

---------

Read 40 Chapters ahead and support me on patreon.

patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator