Watch Out for Ifrit!

"Are you really staying here?" Gray suddenly asked.

"Of course. There are so many evil mages upstairs. I'm scared," Ifrit said with a shrug.

"..."

Everyone was speechless.

Who was it that had ridden here in the same vehicle as Erigor and all those Dark Mages?!

And who had killed Erigor's subordinate right in front of him?!

If you weren't so uninterested in fighting, this would probably have been over long ago!

"..."

Ifrit watched Erza and the others head upstairs, then walked over to a bench and sat down, taking out the ugly demonic flute, Lullaby.

"W-Who exactly are you?!" the demon inside Lullaby asked fearfully.

It had witnessed everything from beginning to end!

This man had played everyone for fools. He was truly terrifying!

"I'm Natsu the Fire Dragon," Ifrit casually replied.

Then he took out a magnifying glass and some tools and began studying Lullaby.

"No, don't~"

Lullaby protested, but it was useless.

"You bastard, you've made me angry! I hadn't planned on taking action myself!"

Lullaby was completely enraged.

"You have no fear of demons, foolish mage. You will pay for your recklessness!"

An enormous amount of magic power burst forth as Lullaby could no longer resist coming out.

Then, it suddenly felt a terrifying pressure!

It was pressure that crushed it on the level of rank, even dimension!

And it definitely was not the pressure of a powerful mage!

It was one of its own kind!

No!

Something superior!

It felt as though an eye was silently watching it from somewhere unseen, like a fierce tiger lurking in the grass while it, a little lamb, had wandered into forbidden territory!

"Please study me however you like, sir! I'll cooperate with everything I have!"

Lullaby decisively retreated back inside.

"Ah, here is my back door. Please be as gentle as possible!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Loud crashing sounds came from inside.

They had started fighting.

Chaotic waves of magic power erupted without restraint.

Listening to the commotion inside, which sounded like they were demolishing the building, Ifrit shook his head.

"Tsk, tsk. This is going to cost them a month's worth of commission money."

He put away Lullaby and took out a camera.

It was a plastic casing with a magic crystal ball inside.

He had made it himself. It could capture people in high definition and in three dimensions!

In the lobby.

Erza and Lucy were fighting a group of Dark Mages.

Erza had just driven the Magic Four-Wheeled Vehicle at full speed, and her magic power was starting to run low, but she still displayed overwhelming strength.

Lucy was as unlucky as ever, being chased everywhere by more than ten enemies who had slipped through.

She had used several keys in succession, but one of the mages chasing her was extremely powerful, putting Lucy under tremendous pressure.

She fought and retreated with Happy until they were cornered at the stairway.

If she turned and ran upstairs, she would definitely be hit from behind while climbing!

"Hehehe."

"Beautiful little fairy, you can't run now, can you?"

"So pretty. Such fair skin. Just what you'd expect from a rich beauty from the Light Guild."

"If we sold you, you'd fetch at least 500,000 J!"

"Before that, let me have some fun first!"

They were wicked and lecherous.

Lucy pressed her back against the wall, her knees turned inward in fright. Feeling their filthy gazes, she covered her chest with her left hand.

Natsu, where are you?!

Lucy was on the verge of tears.

"Lucy, what do we do?" Happy asked nervously.

Lucy did not answer, gripping her key tightly.

Back when she was with Natsu, enemies like these would all be sent flying with one punch!

But now that she had to deal with them herself, it felt extraordinarily difficult!

"Surrender quietly." The strongest mage stepped forward. "At least you'll suffer less."

He stretched out his right hand, an Air Cannon gathering in his palm.

"Which part of this woman do you want to see?" he asked.

"Those huge headlights, obviously!" the Dark Mages shouted in unison.

"Move your hand, or it'll be broken," the mage "kindly" warned.

Lucy said nothing. It was psychological warfare. The moment she opened her mouth, he might attack!

Boom!

The Air Cannon suddenly fired.

Lucy, who had been focused the entire time, dodged the Air Cannon by a hair's breadth. Seizing the chance, she immediately rushed forward and charged straight at the mage!

She waved her golden key.

"Open, Gate of Taurus! Taurus!"

"Moo—"

Taurus, wielding a massive axe, knew Lucy was in danger. Without wasting words after appearing, he swung his axe.

"What?!"

The enemy clearly had not expected Lucy to be so bold and was caught completely off guard!

Taurus possessed immense strength. With such a sudden attack at close range, they had no way to dodge and were all struck down by a single swing!

"Miss Lucy, I will never allow them to harm your beautiful body!"

Only after defeating the enemies did Taurus turn to Lucy with hearts in his eyes.

"Thank you, Taurus." Lucy recalled Taurus with a weary expression.

She had just breathed a sigh of relief when a smug voice came from beside her. "Hey, hey, hey. Letting your guard down like that isn't good, you know."

What?!

Lucy was shocked, but it was already too late to dodge.

Thud!

A massive hammer struck one side of her shoulder, knocking Lucy forward.

There was still an enemy!

Lucy quickly got back up, but her body swayed. Holding her shoulder, she was forced to lean the other side of her body against the wall just to remain standing.

The ambusher held a wooden hammer that kept growing and shrinking.

"Lucy, are you okay?!" Happy hurriedly flew over.

He was truly panicking now!

Lucy had already exhausted her magic power, and the ambusher did not look easy to deal with either.

"Happy, go find Natsu! I'll hold him off!"

The pain in her shoulder made Lucy want to cry, but this girl, who could always become strong at critical moments, still resolutely chose to stay behind and protect Happy despite having exhausted her magic power.

"No, you can't fight anymore! You'll die!"

Happy anxiously shouted in all directions, "Ifrit, you bastard, aren't you going to do something?!"

Ifrit?

That's right!

Lucy suddenly remembered what Ifrit had left her earlier!

She took out the card and recalled Ifrit's instructions.

Suppressing the pain, she gathered the last of her strength.

She spread her legs apart, held the card high in her left hand, and raised her open right hand over her face.

"It's the card Ifrit gave you!" Happy remembered too, shouting excitedly.

But Lucy's shout drowned him out.

"I am a mage of Dark Flame! Ignorant fool, be devoured completely by the black flames!"

After chanting the spell, Lucy and Happy waited excitedly for the enemy to be defeated.

Seeing Lucy's confident and convincing act, the enemy immediately enlarged his wooden hammer and warily scanned the surroundings.

But—

"..."

One second of silence.

"..."

Two seconds of silence.

"..."

Three seconds of silence.

Lucy and Happy's expressions changed.

"Hahaha! I thought it was some incredible magic, but you're just a chuunibyou young lady!" The enemy laughed as he approached with his wooden hammer.

Hey, hey, hey!

Lucy and Happy completely panicked.

Hadn't Miss Mirajane said that Ifrit was dependable at critical moments?!

"Ifrit!" Happy shouted. "If you don't come out now, I won't go fishing with you anymore! You can spend the rest of your life catching nothing!"

"Happy, isn't that a little too cruel? I only come back empty-handed occasionally."

Ifrit's voice came from behind the enemy, and then Lucy and Happy saw the enemy collapse without any resistance.

Ifrit walked toward them. "This teaches us that on the battlefield, you must never let your guard down just because you've defeated the enemy in front of you."

"Lucy, there are three bottles of medicine in your pocket. Apply the dark red one externally, drink the orange-red one, and use the blue one to replenish your magic power."

"Huh?" Lucy felt around in her pocket and pulled out three bottles with a baffled expression. Only then did she remember that Ifrit liked performing magic tricks.

"Thank you," Lucy said gratefully, then asked, "You were already here, weren't you?"

"Not really. I just arrived at the most exciting moment."

"The most exciting moment?" Lucy asked in confusion.

"Mm."

Ifrit took out his camera, reversed the spell, and played it.

The image was projected into the air.

In the three-dimensional, faithfully reproduced footage—

Lucy's pose was chuunibyou yet cool, her expression earnest and solemn, as though she were casting powerful magic, but—

"I am a mage of Dark Flame! Ignorant fool, be devoured completely by the black flames!"

"!!!"

Huh?!!!

Lucy's brain shut down. Then blood rushed from her neck all the way to the top of her head. Within three seconds, her entire face turned red, and her ears became so red they nearly bled!

"Oh?" Happy covered his mouth and giggled. "So Lucy likes this kind of play?"

"No!" Lucy screamed in despair. How could she not understand now? Ifrit had completely fooled her!

"Delete it! Delete it nowww!"

She pounced at Ifrit, but grabbed nothing but air.

"I'm going to check on Erza." Ifrit's body disappeared.

"Ah—"

Lucy sat on the ground with her legs folded to one side, her arms hanging limply at her sides. She stared blankly at the sky, her eyes devoid of light. After several seconds of silence, she let out a completely broken "Hehehe" laugh.

She finally understood what Mirajane had meant!

"Lucy, be careful of Ifrit during this mission!"

"When danger comes, he's a dependable companion!"

"But when there's no danger, he's the greatest danger of all!"