Beneath the faint glow of countless stars.
Hope and expectation showed in Zeref's eyes.
"Lord Aizen."
His voice echoed through the empty council chamber.
"From your earlier conversation, I heard what you are. A 'Shinigami'?"
Zeref leaned forward slightly, his gaze fixed on the reflection in Aizen's lenses, and asked softly, "Then, can you help me?"
"Solve the Contradictory Curse—or grant me death."
Aizen did not answer the request at once.
A moment later.
The expression on his face remained gentle, but there was a hint of inquiry in his tone.
"Your curse is closely tied to your soul."
"If I am to reach an accurate conclusion, I must make physical contact and examine the soul level in depth."
"Would you mind?"
Hearing this, Zeref did not hesitate in the slightest. He raised his left hand and laid it flat on the Star Round Table, extending it before Aizen.
Of course, he knew full well that allowing an Otherworld powerhouse he had just met, whose background was unknown and who called himself a "Shinigami," to examine his soul was an extremely dangerous thing.
The slightest carelessness could allow the other party to tamper with him.
But for Zeref, who had wandered in agony for four hundred years...
As long as there was even a thread of hope of breaking this curse that made life worse than death...
Any risk was worth considering.
Besides...
He had enough confidence in his own strength.
"Thank you for your trouble," Zeref said, his voice calm as still water.
"Pardon me."
With elegant grace, Aizen extended his right hand and lightly rested his palm on Zeref's hand.
His posture was like that of a refined physician taking a pulse.
Aizen transformed his vast, delicate spiritual pressure into invisible tendrils.
Silently, they probed into the deepest