Nephew

Standing atop the mountain, August's brows were furrowed tightly. He slammed his long, black staff on the ground and stared intently at the deep green sea of trees at the foot of the mountain.

"This isn't just magic that makes trees grow."

The old man's white beard swayed slightly in the magical turbulence, his voice low and hoarse.

Beneath the guild's dilapidated porch, Zeref sat leisurely on a sofa, one hand supporting his cheek, his eyes slightly lowered, gazing with interest at the spectacular green landscape that stretched across the basin.

That sofa was Riyao's exclusive recliner.

If Riyao were to witness his beloved being taken over, he would surely fly into a rage on the spot and challenge the other party to a real-life duel where his dignity would be at stake.

"Hehehe, now it's our home turf. Let me see who we should arrange and what opponents we should give them. One Spriggan Shield can handle several opponents, right?"

Riyao rubbed his hands together, a standard villainous smile on his face, his eyes gleaming as he scanned the battlefield nodes that had been forcibly divided within the Tree Sea Maze.

Zera struggled to pull herself out of the tree branch, jumped onto the thick branch next to Riyao, and looked at him with a disgusted expression.

"Hey blondie, are you sure you're not the villain?"

Riyao suppressed his exaggerated, strange laughter, cleared his throat, and corrected himself.

"My name is Riyao, and, strictly speaking, our guild isn't exactly a respectable or upright organization, is it?"

"Well, that makes sense."

Zera's face stiffened slightly, and her expression immediately became strange.

She herself is a manifestation of Mavis's subconscious Thought Projection, naturally sharing all of Mavis's memories and perceptions in her mind.

Back on Tenrou Island, the original four founders of Fairy Tail were all apprenticed to the dark mage Zeref, and were personally trained by the most dangerous progenitor of dark magic on the continent.

Just based on this lineage alone, he was destined to be unrelated to any orthodox or prestigious schools.

Not to mention the 'Fairy Heart' which was later sealed away as the highest secret weapon. If the infinite magic power it contains were to go out of control, its power would be no less than that of strategic-level annihilation weapons like the Face and Etherion secretly created by the Magic Council.

Zera felt increasingly guilty as she thought about it. She covered her flushed face with her hands and squatted down on the spot with a thud.

"How can the guild that Mavis built be so outrageous?!"

"I've already arranged opponents for their high-end combatants, and my little dragon has infiltrated the guild. Now everything is ready, we just need the final push."

Riyao patted the sawdust off his palms, straightened his chest, and put on a dignified expression of someone who could win battles from afar and strategize with complete authority.

Zera stared up at him blankly, her large amber eyes blinking twice.

Just a moment ago, I thought this grinning young man in the floral shirt was full of nonsense and completely unreliable.

But when she saw his calm and composed demeanor as he laid out the plan, a small flame of hope rekindled in Zera's heart.

Maybe... these younger generation really do have some talent?

However, his cool demeanor lasted only three seconds.

Riyao stretched out a big yawn, turned his head and whistled merrily into the air.

"I have nothing to do now, so I'm going to find my sweet and soft darling wife."

Zera stumbled and nearly fell headfirst off the tree trunk, which was a hundred meters high.

"Hey! Can't you be serious for once? Is this the time for you to be looking for some precious wife? If you don't rescue Mavis soon, we're all doomed!"

Zera completely lost her temper, clenching her small hands into fists and wildly waving them around in mid-air at Riyao.

Riyao was so shocked by her piercingly loud shout that he jerked his head to the side and frantically dug at his ear.

This girl has an incredibly loud voice; she can rattle off a barrage of complaints, and her chatter surpasses even Lucy's from the guild.

Just as he was about to make up a couple of things to get by, Riyao's expression suddenly froze slightly.

It wasn't that Zera's shout stunned them, but rather that the entire neural network of the forest trembled violently at its edge.

A middle-aged man with a tattered cloak and a full beard was seen rampaging through the dense forest like a runaway ancient mammoth, smashing dozens of ancient trees, each as thick as two people could hug, into splinters of wood.

"That old geezer actually made it back. Let's assign him some grunts for now; the Spriggan is too busy to handle anything else."

Riyao muttered to himself, flicking his fingertips lightly in the air.

Thick branches and vines rumbled and slowly retreated to both sides, tearing a wide and straight tree-lined avenue in the center of the chaotic battlefield, leading directly to a tens of thousands of imperial infantry battalions that were regrouping.

Gildarts peeked out from the swirling wood chips, looked at the road that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and immediately understood. He then strode off along the road with a carefree attitude.

"That kid Riyao is so thoughtful, he knows I'm bad at finding my way around, haha..."

A hearty, unrestrained laugh echoed like thunder above the entire sea of trees.

Upon hearing that extremely familiar laughter, the Fairy Tail members scattered throughout the area instantly transformed their previously tense killing intent into a relieved smile—the guild's most reliable leader had finally arrived.

In another part of the tree canopy, Cana raised her hand and kicked the tree trunk beside her hard.

"Hey! Riyao, I'm going to find that stinky old man, don't pretend you can't hear me!"

As soon as she finished speaking, a thick tree trunk in front of her snapped and bent down with a crack, like a giant green wooden signpost, slowly pointing diagonally upwards.

Cana looked up at the treetop and two veins popped out on her forehead.

"What the hell are you pointing at?!"

The direction it pointed was clearly straight up to the heavens, which made Cana stomp her feet in anger and curse loudly.

The branch didn't give her a chance to continue talking nonsense. With a whoosh, it transformed into a soft green vine, firmly and ruthlessly wrapping around the girl's slender waist, and suddenly throwing her upwards!

"Aaaaaah... Damn you, Riyao!!"

Cana's screams quickly pierced the sky.

Within this completely transformed tree realm, the spatial dimensions have long been shattered by the magic of the Riyao; the sky is no longer necessarily the sky, and the earth is no longer necessarily the earth.

Deep within the forest, the magical explosions from various battlefields rose and fell, and the earth trembled wildly.

Riyao grabbed Zera by the collar, his figure moving like a gentle breeze, leaping and bounding among the branches before landing steadily in a quiet, spacious clearing in the woods.

Dozens of meters directly in front of him floated a blond youth wearing a snow-white monk's robe.

The person held a string of prayer beads in their hand, had a refined and holy face, and was surrounded by a pure white halo of holiness.

This guy has to be killed right here. Once that Pleasure Magic fully erupts, everyone, friend or foe, will be affected on the spot. And we still have innocent little girls like Wendy in our guild.

"You must be Larcade Dragneel, Natsu's nephew, one of Zeref's masterpieces against the Black Dragon."

Riyao strolled forward slowly, his hands in his shorts pockets, speaking as casually as if he were greeting a distant relative on the street.

Larcade paused slightly as he plucked the prayer beads, then raised his eyes and coldly surveyed the blond youth before him.

"Huh? You know me?"

Although Larcade was asking a question, a tiny, almost imperceptible upward curve appeared at the corner of his mouth on his usually indifferent face.

The other party not only called him by his full name, but also directly stated his identity as 'Natsu's nephew'.

In other words, in the mind of this man, he was the rightful bloodline and son of the dark mage Zeref!

For a moment, Larcade's gaze towards Riyao even held a rare hint of gentle approval.

This blonde mage is wearing a floral shirt.

What a great person!