Gerard's Transformation

"Witness my greatness!" Wally howled as he swung his club, knocking the overseer charging at him to the ground.

"Thanks to you lot, I've gotten plenty of exercise every day!" On the other side, Simon roared as well, smashing the iron shovel in his hands into an overseer's forehead and knocking him unconscious on the spot.

The others were much the same, all picking up their weapons and fighting the overseers. It proved that the strength people could unleash under extreme oppression was absolutely beyond imagination! Even though the overseers were all powerful fighters, with quite a few low-ranking mages among them, when faced with the towering fury these enraged people unleashed in their fight for freedom, no matter how hard they tried to suppress them or resist them, they still could not stand against the surging crowd!

Under the riot launched by these impassioned people, the overseers felt as though they were nothing more than frail little boats. The sacrificial laborers they had once regarded as livestock to be slaughtered at will were now unleashing terrifying power like raging waves, crashing against their fragile defenses again and again.

Though they had organized an effective resistance, before this terrifying and unstoppable force, they could only struggle to hold on and were unable to mount any effective counterattack! Like boats desperately resisting nature's might amid a stormy sea, they were in grave danger, as though they could be swallowed whole by the merciless ocean at any moment...

"Damn it! This can't go on! The riot caused by these damned sacrifices has far exceeded our expectations! This is no longer something we can easily handle with our strength alone. If we're not careful, even we may all be wiped out here!" An overseer who looked like a leader leaned behind a large boulder. While organizing his men's defense, he ordered an overseer below, "We must report the situation here to the lords immediately! Request their support—"

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Gerard, his face twisted in pain, had both hands tied behind his back and was bound to a thick pillar. Looking closely, it was the very pillar that had previously held Erza!

That was right. This was the dark room everyone feared, the one Erza had been kept in before.

With his head hanging low and exhaustion written all over his face, Gerard lay limply against the pillar. Judging by his weak and listless appearance, he had clearly suffered considerable inhuman torture.

"Hehehe, you little brat, do you still dare try to save people? You even injured quite a few of our companions! Looks like you're tired of living!!!" As he spoke, the enraged fat mage thrust his staff forward. A ring of dark purple lightning immediately shot out from a purple magic circle above his head, enveloping Gerard on the pillar once again!

"Ah—" As the lightning crackled wildly across his body, Gerard could not help throwing back his head and screaming in agony.

"Tell me honestly, do you have any other accomplices?" The fat mage stepped forward, grabbed Gerard by his azure hair, and snarled, "Judging from those destroyed Magic Soldiers, you must have had at least one accomplice helping you! Otherwise, there's no way you could have run so far carrying someone on your back while surrounded by Magic Soldiers!!!"

At those words, Gerard's entire body suddenly trembled, and a hint of delight immediately shone in his eyes, as though he had heard some especially good news!

There was no other reason. From the fat mage's questioning, Gerard had basically learned that aside from himself and Erza, they had not captured anyone else! Otherwise, they would not be wasting their time interrogating him like this!

Of course Gerard knew who had destroyed those Magic Soldiers! But what he had never expected was that after Nameless had destroyed so many of their Magic Soldiers and stayed behind to buy as much time as possible for him and Erza, he still had not been captured by these hateful bastards!!!

This was the best news Gerard had heard after suffering so many blows today!

Nameless was not dead! In Gerard's eyes, was there any better news than that?!!

Thinking of this, Gerard could not help revealing a look filled with excitement and joy.

"Hey, brat! Hurry up and confess who your other accomplice is!" After waiting for quite some time and seeing no sign that this stubborn brat intended to speak, the fat mage finally grew impatient. "If you confess willingly, not only will you suffer less physical pain, but I may even show you mercy and let you die quickly!!!"

"Heh." Gerard laboriously raised his head and broke free of the skinny mage's right hand gripping his hair. Then, with mocking eyes fixed on the skinny mage, he moved his lips and spat, "Idiot. Fat pig..."

"Bastard!!! I'll kill—" Having had a sore spot struck, the fat mage flew into a rage. He raised his staff, ready to teach this hateful fellow a lesson he would never forget, but before he could finish speaking, he was suddenly interrupted by a subordinate who stumbled in from outside!

"Report!!! Something terrible has happened, my lords!" The overseer said shakily and rapidly, "Outside... those sacrifices outside have all rioted! We can barely hold them back anymore!" His voice trembled as he spoke, and his eyes were filled with terror. He was clearly frightened to the extreme.

"Idiot! What are you panicking for? What's there to panic about?!" Already furious, the fat mage grew even angrier upon hearing this. Especially when he saw his subordinate's panicked expression, he roared furiously at the man kneeling on the ground. "Pass down the order! Deploy the magic troops! Suppress those arrogant sacrifices immediately!!!"

"Yes!" Upon receiving the order, the overseer was overjoyed and hurriedly scrambled away to relay his lord's command.

"Hey, stop bothering with him. Why don't we go take a look too?" Seeing that the fat mage was still seething with rage, the skinny mage, who had been watching coldly from the side, smiled and suggested, "I really want to see the despair in the eyes of those ignorant trash once they're suppressed by the magic troops, hahaha—" As he spoke, he burst into wild laughter.

"Hehehe, indeed! Then let's go take a look—" Hearing that, much of the fat mage's anger subsided. Rather than sulking here, he might as well enjoy the despair in the eyes of those who had dared rebel before they died...

"As for you, until you properly comprehend the greatness of our god, stay here and reflect obediently! Until the day you learn to respect god, this ritual will continue—"

With that, the fat mage no longer hesitated. Too lazy to pay any more attention to Gerard bound to the pillar, he quickly headed outside with the skinny mage, laughing all the while.

"God? Hmph—" Gerard lowered his head, seemingly pondering the fat mage's words, and muttered, "A god who cannot even save a child... even if one exists, I don't need it..."

Just then, a pair of unnoticed eyes coldly watched Gerard from the darkness. With the appearance of those eyes, a strange and sinister power immediately filled the entire room.

Gerard, enveloped by that strange power, was the first to be gradually eroded by it. He had already harbored a trace of resentment toward this sunless life, but under the influence of that power, the resentment in his heart was instantly magnified without limit.

"I hate..." Gerard muttered. Under the influence of that power, the look in his eyes slowly began to turn strange as well.

"Hate..." said the owner of those eerie eyes in a seductive whisper.

"I hate everything. Them, that so-called god... I hate everything in this world—" As though he were being eroded more severely by that power, Gerard's muttering grew louder and louder, while the look in his eyes became increasingly evil and bizarre.

"Hate. I will devour that hatred of yours. Human suffering makes me stronger..." the owner of the eerie eyes continued to entice him.

"Fortunate Gerard, you can sense my existence only because of the intense resentment in your heart. You are far luckier than those fools who only know how to worship me, yet do not know that only those who harbor intense hatred can behold my true form—" Dark red magic power slowly gathered before Gerard, forming a huge crimson thing resembling a demon. The strange voice came from within it. "Ahahaha! Come, hate to your heart's content! Resent to your heart's content! My name—Zeref! Only hatred can sustain my existence—" As the voice finished, a huge eerie crimson eye suddenly opened at the top of the thing!

"Ah, yes..." Gerard muttered. At the same time, strange crimson patterns suddenly spread across his right eye, and the corners of his mouth split wide as his smile became more wicked than ever before.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield elsewhere, Erza was leading a group of enraged people toward this place. Their purpose was clear: to rescue the captured Gerard, and to find the missing Chen Wuming!

So what was Chen Wuming, our protagonist, doing now? Was his fate truly unknown as Erza and the others imagined, or had he successfully escaped, just as the fat and skinny mages had guessed?

Everything was still unknown.