Chapter 311

Chapter 311: Chapter 311

Marshall had seriously underestimated just how troublesome the Curse of Ankhseram could be.

Of the three solutions he’d previously considered—spatial sealing, delayed activation, and Apostle transformation—the latter two were still beyond his current abilities.

That left Spatial Sealing as the most practical option to investigate first.

Fortunately, Marshall possessed one advantage that made experimenting with such dangerous techniques considerably easier.

He was immortal.

As long as the Curse of Ankhseram continued restoring his body, he could afford to attempt procedures that would ordinarily be far too dangerous to perform on a living person.

And Marshall had never been particularly reluctant to take risks when there was a worthwhile result to be gained.

His first experiment involved using Spatial Magic to separate the portion of his body containing his First Origin from the rest of his physical structure, then transferring that section into a sealed dimension.

Initially, he adapted the same principles he’d once used to create his peculiar pocket-dimensional underwear.

The technique allowed him to separate different sections of physical space while preserving the underlying connections between the objects occupying them.

In theory, that meant he could isolate part of his body without actually severing its connection to the rest of him.

Unfortunately, the results were disappointing.

Although the spatial separation functioned as intended, the Curse of Ankhseram continued spreading outward through the connections linking the separated sections of his body.

Simple spatial isolation wasn’t enough to contain it.

The curse’s power could still cross the boundary and reach the outside world.

Marshall wasn’t willing to give up after a single failure.

For his next experiment, he took a much more drastic approach.

Rather than preserving the connection between the two spatial regions, he severed it completely.

This time, the portion of his body containing his First Origin was genuinely separated from ordinary space, with no remaining connection to the surrounding physical structure.

From a practical standpoint, the procedure was barely different from cutting out part of his own body.

The consequences were immediate.

A dark, hollow-looking patch appeared in the center of Marshall’s chest, making him resemble a Hollow from Bleach.

More importantly, he completely lost access to the Magic Power stored within his First Origin.

His physical and magical capabilities declined sharply.

It was as though someone had suddenly imposed every imaginable weakening effect on him at once.

Marshall had expected that outcome to some extent. After all, he was deliberately severing the connection to one of his most important magical structures.

But if the procedure completely prevented the Curse of Ankhseram from spreading into the outside world, the sacrifice might still have been worthwhile.

Unfortunately, the curse had other ideas.

When the next outbreak occurred, black-gray light once again appeared around Marshall’s body.

The affected area was much smaller than before, extending only a few meters rather than spreading across the surrounding landscape, but the curse hadn’t been completely contained.

Even more strangely, the outbreak lasted longer than usual.

The dark radiance lingered around him, continuing to search for vitality to absorb.

Only after failing to acquire enough life energy did the phenomenon gradually dissipate.

Marshall stared at the results in frustration.

There was some good news.

Spatial sealing had significantly reduced the curse’s effective range, proving that the technique wasn’t entirely useless.

Unfortunately, that improvement didn’t actually solve his problem.

Even if he reduced the affected area to a single meter, anyone standing close enough could still be killed.

Marshall wanted to eliminate the danger completely, not merely make the curse slightly less inconvenient.

After conducting several more experiments, he eventually identified what he believed was the underlying problem.

It was probably a matter of skill level.

The Curse of Ankhseram operated through LV5 Life Magic, an ability that had already begun interacting with the fundamental rules of the world.

His Spatial Magic, on the other hand, was still only LV4.

The difference wasn’t merely one of raw Magic Power.

The curse possessed a higher level of authority over the phenomena it controlled, allowing its effects to partially bypass the spatial restrictions Marshall constructed.

No matter how carefully he designed the barriers, his LV4 Spatial Magic simply couldn’t suppress the LV5 curse completely.

Marshall stared at his experimental notes.

’So what you’re telling me is...’

’I have to raise Spatial Magic to LV5 before I can properly seal this damned thing?’

After all that experimentation, he’d somehow ended up right back where he started.

His excitement immediately faded, and the Inspiration Points generated by his earlier breakthroughs came to an abrupt halt.

Marshall slumped in disappointment.

Still, after calming down and reviewing the results, he realized that the experiments hadn’t been entirely unsuccessful.

At the very least, he’d confirmed that isolating his First Origin through Spatial Magic genuinely affected the curse.

Its effective range had been reduced dramatically.

That proved something extremely important.

The Curse of Ankhseram wasn’t completely beyond interference.

Even an LV4 ability could restrict its effects to some extent.

If that was possible, then there was no reason a more advanced technique couldn’t eventually suppress it completely.

Marshall’s enthusiasm gradually returned.

’That’s right. There’s no such thing as an absolutely unsolvable curse.’

’Magic isn’t nearly that limited!’

Since the first approach had demonstrated some genuine potential, there was every reason to believe that his other two ideas might prove effective as well.

He simply needed enough time, research, and magical understanding to turn those theories into practical techniques.

And time was one thing Marshall currently possessed in abundance.

As long as he continued making progress, he was confident that he would eventually gain complete control over this infuriating divine curse.

...

While Marshall was busy trying to outsmart the Curse of Ankhseram, Mavis and her companions were encountering their own share of trouble in the outside world.

After leaving Tenrou Island, the five travelers first arrived at Hargeon, a port city on the southern coast of the Kingdom of Fiore.

Their immediate objective was to gather information about Blue Skull, the Dark Guild responsible for destroying Red Lizard and stealing the Tenrou Jade.

At first, the investigation proceeded rather smoothly.

Mavis and Precht managed to locate a Blue Skull informant inside a tavern, hoping to question him about the guild’s whereabouts.

Unfortunately, the man had absolutely no interest in cooperating.

The moment he realized what they wanted, he attacked without warning.

The sudden violence startled Mavis so badly that she immediately flew into the air, instinctively putting some distance between herself and the fighting.

But by the time she recovered from her surprise, the confrontation was already over.

Precht had defeated their opponent entirely on his own.

Although Yuri, Precht, and Warrod weren’t capable of using Magic yet, they were all remarkably skilled in hand-to-hand combat.

Each of them possessed enough physical ability to defeat a group of ordinary opponents without much difficulty.

Watching them fight, it wasn’t particularly difficult to imagine where Fairy Tail’s later enthusiasm for settling problems with its fists had originated.

Perhaps those three men had established that tradition long before the guild itself even existed.

Once Precht had thoroughly beaten their opponent into submission, obtaining the information they wanted became considerably easier.

Blue Skull’s headquarters was located in Magnolia, a town farther north.

With their destination finally confirmed, the group resumed its journey.

Several days later, they arrived in Magnolia.

Unfortunately, what greeted them was nothing like the lively town they had expected.

...

Magnolia in this era had become something resembling a ghost town.

It had once been an ordinary settlement, with homes, shops, streets, and residents going about their daily lives.

But everything had changed after the Dark Guild Blue Skull established itself there.

Buildings lay in ruins throughout the town, and entire sections of the streets had been reduced to broken walls and abandoned structures.

Even Kardia Cathedral, one of the great churches representing the three major religious institutions of an earlier era, had been occupied.

An enormous blue skeletal dragon loomed over the cathedral, turning what should have been a place of worship into a terrifying symbol of Blue Skull’s authority.

The Dark Guild’s Mages ruled Magnolia through fear.

They attacked and murdered ordinary civilians without restraint, using their magical abilities to terrorize anyone unfortunate enough to attract their attention.

Those who could escape had already fled.

The people who remained were mostly those who lacked the means or opportunity to leave, forced to endure Blue Skull’s brutal rule while hoping they wouldn’t become its next victims.

The town hadn’t merely fallen into poverty or disorder.

It had effectively been destroyed from within.

The Magnolia that Marshall knew—a lively place full of bustling streets, cheerful residents, and a certain famously destructive Mage Guild—was nowhere to be seen.

In its place stood a settlement that had practically lost the will to live.

Naturally, Yuri and the others were furious when they saw what Blue Skull had done.

Their original purpose had been to recover the Tenrou Jade, but after witnessing the suffering inflicted upon Magnolia’s residents, they were no longer satisfied with merely retrieving the stolen treasure.

They wanted to teach the Dark Guild a lesson.

Unfortunately, their anger made them considerably more confident than their actual strength justified.

They had badly underestimated what a group of genuine Mages could accomplish.

Blue Skull’s Guild Master was a powerful Mage with magical reserves reaching several tens of thousands, putting him far above Mavis, who had only recently turned thirteen.

The guild’s other members varied greatly in ability, but there were still several hundred people among them who could use Magic.

By comparison, Mavis’s group consisted of three physically capable treasure hunters and two young girls.

And only the girls could cast spells.

Although Mavis had received considerable instruction from Marshall, her magical reserves remained relatively limited.

She was talented, knowledgeable, and remarkably quick-thinking, but talent alone couldn’t erase such an enormous disadvantage in raw strength.

There was only so much she could accomplish against a large group of hostile Mages.

Consequently, the confrontation ended almost exactly as one might expect.

Disastrously.

When the group finally encountered Blue Skull’s Guild Master, Mavis attempted to intimidate him by summoning an enormous number of illusions.

The technique was considerably more sophisticated than the Illusion Magic she’d possessed before meeting Marshall.

Thanks to his instruction, she’d learned how to apply Light-Make Magic to give some of her illusions tangible forms.

Unfortunately, those constructs had a fundamental limitation.

Among the various elemental Molding techniques, light-based constructs possessed relatively poor physical durability.

Someone like Marshall, with his enormous magical reserves, could compensate for that weakness by supplying ridiculous quantities of Magic Power.

Mavis, however, was nowhere near that level.

She simply couldn’t make her constructs powerful enough to overwhelm an experienced Mage whose magical reserves vastly exceeded her own.

The result was a crushing defeat.

Blue Skull’s Guild Master tore through Mavis’s illusions without much difficulty, rendering her primary fighting method almost useless.

And Yuri, Precht, and Warrod were in an even worse position.

Their impressive hand-to-hand skills meant very little against opponents capable of attacking from a distance with destructive Magic.

Instead of providing useful support, the three treasure hunters quickly became liabilities whom Mavis and Zera had to protect.

Within moments, the entire group was overwhelmed.

The enemy’s Mages attacked from every direction, forcing Yuri and his companions to scramble desperately for cover while trying to avoid the barrage of spells raining down around them.

Mavis and Zera eventually managed to create an opening and pull the three men out of the encirclement, but doing so required an enormous effort.

And they weren’t able to escape without serious injuries.

During the fighting, Precht was struck in the face by a stray magical projectile.

The attack destroyed one of his eyes.

By the time the five companions finally escaped Magnolia, their original enthusiasm had disappeared completely.

Mavis, who had rarely experienced genuine failure before, was particularly shaken.

She had always prided herself on her intelligence and ability to solve difficult problems. Even when facing unfamiliar situations, she usually managed to think her way toward a favorable outcome.

But this was different.

She had underestimated the enemy, overestimated her companions’ abilities, and led everyone into a battle they couldn’t win.

Now Precht had lost an eye because of it.

For the first time, Mavis truly understood how cruel the outside world could be.

...

"I’m sorry, Precht..."

Mavis looked at the bandages covering his injured eye, her expression filled with guilt.

"It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t made that decision, your eye wouldn’t have..."

"It was my own mistake," Precht interrupted calmly. "You don’t need to blame yourself."

The group had retreated into a forest east of Magnolia, where they established a temporary camp and began treating their injuries.

Although they’d escaped Blue Skull’s pursuit, the atmosphere remained heavy.

Mavis sat quietly, staring at her wounded companions.

She couldn’t stop thinking about everything she’d done wrong.

If she’d understood the difference in strength between the two sides, perhaps she could have devised a better plan.

If she’d been more careful, perhaps they wouldn’t have been forced into a direct confrontation.

And if she’d possessed more Magic Power, perhaps she could have protected everyone instead of watching helplessly as they were injured.

The more she considered the situation, the worse she felt.

"Those bastards!"

Zera, meanwhile, was far more interested in finding someone who could punish Blue Skull for what it had done.

"Mavis, we should go back and ask Marshall for help! If he fought those guys, he’d defeat them without any trouble!"

She clenched her fists indignantly.

"We should let Marshall teach them a lesson and get revenge for us!"

In fact, Zera had already contacted Marshall through the communication ring and secretly informed him about everything that had happened.

Unfortunately, the response she’d received hadn’t been particularly comforting.

Rather than immediately promising to come and rescue them, Marshall had laughed at their predicament and thoroughly mocked their performance.

According to him, they’d spent two entire years studying Magic under his instruction, yet they still couldn’t handle a situation like this.

What a disgrace!

If they continued embarrassing themselves so badly, they had better not go around telling people that Marshall had been their teacher.

His merciless criticism had nearly reduced Zera to tears.

Nevertheless, she knew him well enough to understand that he wasn’t genuinely abandoning them.

If they sincerely asked for his help, Marshall would almost certainly come.

Zera simply didn’t want to make the request herself.

After all, she was already embarrassed enough after being mocked by him.

So she’d decided to persuade Mavis to ask instead.

Unfortunately, her friend wasn’t particularly receptive to the suggestion.

"We can’t keep asking Marshall to solve every problem for us," Mavis replied with a sigh. "He’s not our personal caretaker, Zera."

She lowered her gaze.

"Besides, he already taught us so much. If we immediately run back and beg for help whenever something goes wrong, we’ll never learn how to handle anything ourselves."

Mavis stood up slowly.

"Just... let me think for a while, okay? I’m sure there’s a way to deal with Blue Skull. I only need to figure out what it is."

Zera wanted to argue, but seeing Mavis’s expression, she reluctantly fell silent.

Mavis walked away from the camp and headed deeper into the forest, hoping the quiet surroundings would help her organize her thoughts.

She understood that her biggest disadvantage was her limited Magic Power.

Against Blue Skull’s Guild Master, she couldn’t hope to win through raw strength.

But if she approached the problem strategically, perhaps there was a way to defeat him without relying on overwhelming magical reserves.

She was confident in her ability to devise a clever plan.

The trouble was that her companions couldn’t contribute much to a battle between powerful Mages.

Yuri, Precht, and Warrod might be excellent fighters by ordinary standards, but without Magic, they were practically helpless against a well-prepared magical opponent.

Their lack of magical abilities had been one of the main reasons the group suffered such a disastrous defeat.

’Is there some way I could teach them Magic?’

Mavis frowned thoughtfully.

’If Yuri and the others could use spells too, we wouldn’t have to rely entirely on Zera and me.’

Unfortunately, she had no idea how to teach someone from the beginning.

Most of her own magical knowledge came from reading books and experimenting until she managed to reproduce the techniques described within them.

Marshall had certainly helped her understand many of the principles involved, but that didn’t mean she knew how to awaken magical abilities in someone who had never used Magic before.

She wasn’t even sure where to begin.

Mavis continued walking through the forest, turning the problem over in her mind.

Then she stopped.

Something about the surrounding trees looked strangely familiar.

The leaves had withered.

Branches hung lifelessly from their trunks, and the vegetation covering the forest floor had turned dry and brittle.

Everywhere she looked, the plants appeared to have been drained of their vitality.

Mavis’s eyes widened.

She recognized this phenomenon.

She’d seen it before on Tenrou Island, whenever the terrible divine curse afflicting Marshall erupted and stripped the life from everything nearby.

This was unmistakably the aftermath of the Curse of Ankhseram.

Mavis slowly raised her head, her heart beginning to race.

"...Marshall?!"