Ul and Gray

"Defeated, huh? Laxus..."

Cana, wearing a white long dress trimmed with little lace flowers, looked at Laxus lying on the guild floor, staring at the ceiling as if lost in thought, and smiled.

"Tch, mind your own business, Cana..."

After recognizing who had come over, Laxus turned his slightly swollen, beaten-up face away.

"Hehehe..."

"You seem to have had pretty bad luck lately. Want me to give you a reading?"

Cana took out some cards, hiding her face behind them as she snickered.

"Tch, if you insist, I'll reluctantly humor you..."

"But let me make this clear first—I don't believe in your fortune-telling!"

Laxus turned his head away, looking utterly unwilling, as though he had only agreed because Cana had been far too enthusiastic.

"Let's see..."

"Whoa~"

"Laxus, you really are unlucky!"

"The cards say that if you take on an S-Class Mission, something terrible will happen to you!"

Cana softly read out the result indicated by her Card Magic.

"Is that so?!"

Laxus, who had been wearing a disdainful expression, immediately turned around, a hint of nervousness appearing on his face.

"Ahem, I mean, I'm not feeling very well today, so I won't be taking on an S-Class Mission for now..."

As he spoke, Laxus sat up from the floor and headed straight out of the guild. As for the S-Class Mission in his hand, Erza had already snatched it away and reposted it on the S-Class board upstairs.

"Hehehe..."

Watching Laxus leave in a hurried panic while pretending to be carefree, Cana covered her mouth with her cards and giggled to herself.

After Laxus left, Macao, who had made a killing, began relentlessly mocking Wakaba. "Hahaha, what did I tell you?! When it comes to gambling, I'm a professional!"

"What are you so proud of?! You just got lucky, you bastard..."

Wakaba's face twisted. Watching Macao make money hurt him more than being killed.

"It's awfully noisy~ It's making it impossible for me to calmly choose a mission..."

In front of the regular mission board stood Erza, who had suffered a few minor scrapes. Her eyes rapidly scanned the posted missions as she searched for one that suited her.

"This mission seems perfect for me."

After a while, Erza picked up a mission sheet whose reward upon completion was a rare suit of armor and muttered to herself.

Several days later...

Ywen got off the train with his pack on his back. Before him stretched a vast mountain range blanketed in snow.

"I need to continue northeast from here!"

"The air is getting colder and colder..."

Ywen looked at the map in his hand and muttered to himself.

The Fiore Kingdom, where Fairy Tail was located, lay in the southwestern part of the Ishgar Continent, directly facing the Western Continent. So once the Zeref Empire launched an attack on Ishgar, Fairy Tail in the Fiore Kingdom would be the first to bear the brunt of it...

Meanwhile, Deliora was active in the colder northeastern region of Ishgar, already beyond the sphere of influence of the Fiore Kingdom.

"Phew~"

Ywen exhaled a cloud of white breath and followed the map toward the dark mountains. There would be no more convenient transportation like trains on the road ahead.

Night fell...

When the last train arrived at Monet, a coastal city in the northeastern region, a short old man jumped off. With his eyes tightly shut, he sensed the magic flowing through the air, his face showing a trace of helplessness. "Was I still too late? Damn it, does that brat Ywen not need any rest?!"

This short old man was Makarov, the Guild Master of Fairy Tail, who had come chasing after Ywen. He had originally intended to intercept Ywen ahead of time, but Ywen had traveled too quickly, switching trains almost without pause. It was obvious that Ywen had studied the train schedules before setting out and picked the best possible route.

"It's too late now. Even if I chase after him, I won't catch up. I should rest first..."

With that thought, Makarov found a nearby inn and settled in for the night.

Ywen, meanwhile, continued onward. The immense stamina and mental strength granted by the Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Azure Dragon Form meant that he would not feel even the slightest fatigue even if he went five days without sleep. If he had not been worried about facing Deliora in poor condition and allowing Deliora to escape, Ywen would have simply flown at full speed to find him...

Two weeks later...

Amid an endless expanse of pale, snow-covered mountains, a young man lay sprawled openly in the snow. He looked somewhat disheveled, as if he had just fought something, and was now snoring soundly from sheer exhaustion.

"Roar~"

Before long, a massive white bear that seemed to blend into the surrounding landscape caught the scent of the sleeping young man. Without hesitation, it opened its blood-filled maw and prepared to bite down on him.

"Huh?!"

The instant the bear opened its mouth, the young man's eyes snapped open.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

The young man frowned at the bear's gaping jaws. In that instant, red light seemed to burst from his eyes, accompanied by an overwhelming aura.

"Whine..."

The bear, nearly five meters tall, showed fear the moment it saw the young man open his eyes. Sweat continuously dripped from around its nose and lips.

In the bear's eyes, the young man underwent a drastic transformation. He was no longer a tiny child, but a terrifying divine dragon hundreds of meters long, its head alone as large as a small house. It opened jaws large enough to swallow the bear whole and roared without end!

The fear born from its instincts as a living creature made the massive bear roll over at once. Like a small dog, it lay on its back with all four limbs in the air, tongue lolling out as it wore a fawning expression.

"Good boy!"

The young man gently patted the bear's head, then pulled out a piece of charcoal from his pocket and held it before the bear's nose.

"Sniff, sniff~"

The bear seemed to understand what the young man meant. It immediately sniffed hard, then stood up and adjusted its direction.

"Let's go!"

The young man lightly leaped onto the bear's back and patted its large head.

"Roar~"

Like an excited husky, the bear headed toward the direction carrying the strongest lingering scent from the charcoal the young man had fed it.

The young man riding the bear was none other than Ywen, who had nearly crossed the entire Ishgar Continent in pursuit of Deliora.

In a northern city perpetually covered in ice and snow...

A beautiful woman with short black hair, delicate features, and a curvaceous figure was training in Ice-Make Magic amid the snow, dressed only in her underwear.

Behind her stood two boys around eight or nine years old, training in magic alongside her in nothing but their underwear.

The three of them seemed to ignore the biting wind completely. Though the cold gusts lashed against their bodies, they felt no discomfort at all...

Several hours later, after the three finished training...

A black-haired boy sat in the endless white snow and looked at the beautiful woman. "Ul, I found out where Deliora is. I'm going to take revenge on him!"

Bang! The beautiful woman punched the boy on the head and shouted angrily, "Idiot! Your strength is still far too immature before Deliora. You want revenge on Deliora? Come talk to me once you've defeated me!"

"Ul, I'm already strong enough!"

The boy stared stubbornly at the beautiful woman, his eyes full of fury. Deliora had destroyed his town and killed his parents. He had a blood-deep grudge against that demon.

"No means no!"

After saying that, the beautiful woman did not give the boy a chance to continue. She put on the clothes lying on the ground and planned to go into town to buy something tasty for her two disciples.

Several dozen minutes later, after the beautiful woman had gone far away...

"Damn it..."

The boy clutched his head, tears glimmering in his eyes.

"Gray, calm down..."

"Ul is only doing this for our own good!"

Beside the black-haired boy, a white-haired boy who looked slightly older softly tried to persuade him.

"Lyon, you don't understand anything..."

"Even without Ul's help, I can take down Deliora all by myself!"

Gray, the black-haired boy, shoved aside Lyon, the white-haired boy trying to reason with him, and sprinted toward the direction where he had heard Deliora had been seen.

"Gray..."

"This is bad. I have to tell Ul..."

Lyon watched Gray race away at full speed, his eyes filled with anxiety. After thinking for a moment, he decided to head down the mountain to find Ul.

"Hey, can't you make it a little cheaper?!"

"This is already the lowest price!"

"This really is troublesome..."

In town, Ul was haggling with a fruit vendor. Since the region was covered in ice and snow year-round, fish and meat were plentiful, but fresh fruit and vegetables were scarce. They had to be transported from the warm south, making them extremely expensive by the time they arrived.

"Ul! This is bad! Gray went to find Deliora!"

Just as Ul was thinking about how to buy what she wanted at a lower price, Lyon's voice suddenly rang out from afar.

"What?!" Ul's expression changed in panic, her brows drawing tight. "That idiot Gray!"

"Lyon, stay here!"

"I'm going after Gray..."

After speaking, Ul tossed the food she had bought into Lyon's arms, then ran anxiously toward the town rumored to be on Deliora's path.

Elsewhere...

Ywen, riding the white bear, had also arrived near the town where Deliora was located...

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