Deliora

Lucy looked at Gray. "What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing. He's just figured it out, but he can't accept it yet."

"Alright, let's get some rest. All we can do now is wait for the moonlight to finish gathering."

As time passed, the bright moon hung high in the sky. Suddenly—

"Rumble!" The sound woke everyone from their rest.

"What is it?! What is it?! Is it an enemy attack?!"

Everyone looked up at the ceiling and saw a beam of purple moonlight shining down through the cavern roof onto Deliora.

Lucy looked at Deliora and cried out, "Everyone, look! The ice sealing Deliora is melting!"

Everyone looked in the direction Lucy was pointing and saw moisture forming on the ice. There was no doubt that it was caused by melting.

Gray said in disbelief, "How is that possible?! It can't be! This is the ice Ur sealed with her life! How could it melt?!"

Lucy said, "Are they trying to unseal Deliora?"

Gray snarled, "Damn it! Whoever you are, if you dare tarnish my master's name, I'll never forgive you!"

Natsu pointed ahead. "Everyone, look! There are stairs here!"

Gray rushed ahead first. "Let me see who's behind this!"

They ran up the stairs and soon spotted several figures in black robes ahead. Their lips moved constantly as they chanted some unknown spell, as though they were performing some kind of religious ritual.

As they continued chanting, the moonlight in the sky was slowly drawn down and shone upon Deliora.

Gray said angrily, "So it's you guys! Damn it! Do they even know what they're doing?!"

"Keep it down, Gray. More people are coming."

A person wearing a horned helmet appeared, followed by the three people they had encountered below.

"I'm so sleepy! Were there really intruders? I searched everywhere and didn't find a trace of them."

Sherry's admirer looked at the man ahead. "Oh, Lord Zero Emperor. Intruders were discovered a few hours ago. They may have already escaped. I cannot display my love."

The man called Zero Emperor said slowly, "Intruders? They're beneath notice. Don't worry. Our task is nearly complete, and our dream is about to come true. Don't let insignificant people ruin our mood afterward!"

"Yes, Lord Zero Emperor! I like you more and more. This is love!"

Hearing Zero Emperor's voice, Gray said in disbelief, "Hey, hey, hey! You've got to be kidding me! That voice!"

Natsu said impatiently, "I don't care anymore! I can't take it! We haven't fought a single enemy so far. Does this even count as an S-Class quest?!"

"Idiot, don't go!" Gray reached out to stop Natsu, only to realize it was already too late.

Natsu's sudden appearance stunned the other side.

"Quick, the intruder is here! Capture him!"

"You're the ones behind this island's curse, aren't you? I'll beat every last one of you!"

"Curse? What's that? Toby, do you know?"

"How would I know?!"

Natsu took a deep breath.

"Dragon's Roar!"

"Wave."

In an instant, the flames vanished.

"What? The flames disappeared!" Lucy cried out.

With Natsu exposed, there was no point in the others continuing to hide.

Yuka looked at the group that had stepped out, noticing the Fairy Tail emblems on them. "You're from Fairy Tail."

Zero Emperor said coldly, "Looks like the villagers asked Fairy Tail for help. We should have wiped them out sooner."

Gray stared fixedly at Zero Emperor. "Bastard, do you know what you're doing?! Lyon!"

Zero Emperor said slowly, "So you recognized me after all, Gray. It's been a long time." As he spoke, Zero Emperor removed his mask.

Lucy asked, "Gray, you know this guy?"

Lyon replied, "Of course I know him. He's my beloved junior brother. Ten years have passed, and it seems he hasn't improved much."

"Senior brother?"

"Junior brother?"

Gray asked coldly, "Why are you doing this?"

Lyon replied, "Why? Of course, to defeat Deliora and prove that I've surpassed Ur!"

"You're unsealing Deliora just to prove that?!"

"What do you know?! You know nothing! Don't forget, you were the one who got Ur killed, then shamelessly hid in the guild and lived happily for ten whole years!"

Lyon's words shook Gray. His fists clenched tightly on their own as that single sentence dragged him deep into self-blame and guilt.

"What's wrong? Why aren't you saying anything? Did I hit the mark?!"

Gray took a deep breath. "You can hate me, but you shouldn't revive the Deliora that Ur sealed with her life! Do you want our teacher's sacrifice to be for nothing?!"

"Gray, after all these years, you actually dare lecture me. If you still feel even a shred of guilt toward Ur, then don't stop me. Take your guildmates and leave this place immediately!"

"Impossible! I'll stop you today! I won't let you unseal Deliora!"

"Then there's nothing more to discuss!"

A voice suddenly rang out. "Um... are you two done talking? It's already late. If you want to keep talking, how about we make something to eat? Everyone's hungry!"

Lucy complained, "Is this really the right time to bring that up?"

Lyon looked at Ye, who had interrupted them with such pointless words.

He said coldly, "Get rid of them."

Lucy complained again, "So we're fighting after all? =_="

"Oh! We can finally get started!"

"You're the one who erased my flames just now, aren't you? Take this, bastard! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

"Wave Barrier!"

Natsu's fist could not break through Yuka's barrier at all.

Suddenly, Toby sprang out.

"Poison Claw!"

Natsu dodged the claw strike, then spun around and kicked Toby flying.

"Wave Bomb!"

"Waaah!"

"These two are really troublesome, but now I'm fired up!"

Sherry looked at Lucy. "Now it's our turn!"

"Open, Gate of Taurus! Taurus!"

"Moo~, Lucy, your figure is still as lovely as ever."

"Taurus, attack her."

"Watch me!"

"Doll Attack: String Puppet!"

"Oh no, Lucy, I can't control myself!" Taurus's axe swung down at Lucy.

"Ah! What's going on?!"

Watching his companions fight separately, Gray fixed a determined gaze on Lyon.

"You want to fight me? Don't forget, you've never beaten me."

"That was before. Things might not be so certain now!"

Ye looked around at everyone else having an opponent. "What about me?"

"Hati, Happy, what should I do?"

Happy looked at Ye speechlessly. "How about you watch Deliora?"

"Awoo!"

"Sigh..." Ye could only sit down helplessly. Before long, Gray was defeated.

"Gray, you're still using both hands to cast magic."

"I've always remembered Ur's teachings!"

"But you still lost to me, didn't you?"

Ye interjected, "Gray feels guilty toward you. Make Magic is a magic of freedom. Once your heart is bound, naturally you can't beat him."

"You've been meddling in my business since earlier."

Ye asked in confusion, "Have I meddled in your business? How come I don't know?"

"You're still playing dumb? Die!"

"Ice-Make: White Tiger!"

Gray warned, "Wait, don't attack!"

An ice tiger charged at Ye. With a wave of Ye's hand, the white tiger shattered into icy fragments.

Lyon said in shock, "How is that possible? My creation was destroyed so easily?"

Ye picked at his ear. "It's nothing impressive. You're just too weak."

"Damn it! What did you say, bastard?!"

"Ice-Make: Great Ape! Ice-Make: Great Eagle!"

"Two-handed creation? Looks like your mastery of Make Magic really is higher than Gray's."

"But young wizard, you need to understand one thing. Before absolute power, numbers are utterly meaningless."

Ye flashed past the two creations in an instant. The creatures immediately became ice fragments and scattered through the air. Ye pressed one hand against Lyon's head and slammed him into the ground.

"Gah~!" Lyon's head was buried in the ground, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

Seeing the man she loved lying unconscious in such a miserable state, Sherry said furiously, "You bastard, I'll kill you!"

Ye released Conqueror's Haki, resembling Asura himself. Sherry, Toby, and Yuka trembled, not daring to move at all, as though they would be crushed into dust the moment they made even the slightest motion.

"Do you still want to fight?"

Yuka said tremblingly, "I heard Guildmaster Ooba mention you before. You're War God Ye!"

"So you're from Lamia Scale too. For Grandma Ooba's sake, I'll let you go this time. But if you dare commit evil again, don't blame me for showing no mercy!"

Sherry gathered her courage and said, "You don't understand anything! Deliora destroyed our hometown. All of us were victims of that disaster, and we've lived under its shadow ever since. Lord Zero Emperor said that if we broke the seal and destroyed Deliora, we wouldn't have to live in that shadow anymore. Lord Zero Emperor gave me a new life. I absolutely won't allow you to ruin the ritual!"

The people conducting the ritual also ran over and said, "Please don't hurt Lord Zero Emperor! He's a good person!"

"You people dress like a cult, and you're telling me your leader is a good person?"

Ye helplessly picked at his ear. "Which eye saw me ruin the ritual? To put it bluntly, if I wanted to, I could have knocked all you black-robed people out just now."

"Then why did you stop Lord Zero Emperor and knock him out?!"

"The Zero Emperor you speak of has long been consumed by obsession. I merely made him calm down for a while."

Gray hurriedly asked, "Ye, why aren't you stopping Deliora from reviving?!"

"Gray! You're a Fairy Tail wizard. You shouldn't be bound by this trash. Since you can't dispel that shadow yourself, then I'll do it. We're family, aren't we?"

"But..."

"Calm down and take a good look around you!"

Gray looked at Natsu.

"Don't worry. We'll take care of it for you."

He looked at Lucy.

"You have to trust Ye. Trust our bond."

He looked at Happy.

"Ye is the strongest!"

He looked at Hati.

"Awoo! Awoo!"

"Thank you, everyone!"

Ye looked toward Deliora. It was almost time.

The ice sealing Deliora slowly melted away, and the unsealed Deliora let out an earth-shaking roar.

"That sound... I'll never be able to forget that sound!"

Lyon slowly woke up. "Deliora has awakened?! Now is the time to prove that I've surpassed Ur!"

"Lord Zero Emperor, are you alright?" Sherry hurriedly helped Lyon up.

At that moment, Deliora gathered powerful energy in its mouth, preparing to fire it at Ye.

"Hahaha, good! I hope you're not as useless as that Lullaby trash. Come! Entertain me! Hahahaha!"

Seeing that Ye seemed different from usual, Lucy asked, "What's wrong with him?"

Happy said helplessly, "His old habit is acting up."

Deliora's powerful energy shot toward Ye, but Ye simply stood there without moving, watching Deliora.

Gray said anxiously, "Why isn't Ye reacting all of a sudden?!"

"I don't know, but trust him."

"Damn it!"

The energy reached Ye. With a casual wave of his hand, Ye shattered it. Everyone was stunned by how effortless it had been.

"Haven't you noticed yet?! Deliora is already dead!"

Gray said in shock, "What?! Dead?!"

"That's right. I think Absolute Freeze slowly wore away Deliora's life over ten years. What happened just now was merely its final flicker before death. Gray, you had a truly admirable master!"

Gray could no longer hold it in and burst into tears.

"Thank you, Master!"

Natsu said slowly, "Your master was really strong."

Hearing Ye's words, Lyon said in disbelief, "Then doesn't that mean I'll never be able to surpass Ur?!"

Gray stepped before Lyon and shouted, "Enough, Lyon! I know you didn't truly want to prove that you surpassed Ur. You only wanted to avenge Ur! Now Deliora is finally dead. You can let it go!"

"No! That's not it! I want to prove that I'm stronger than Ur!"

Gray walked up and punched Lyon. "Snap out of it! Look at the people around you."

Lyon looked at Sherry, Yuka, Toby, and everyone else.

"Zero Emperor, it's enough! It really is enough! We're already satisfied. Our great vengeance has been fulfilled, and we've never felt so relieved. Zero Emperor, it's time for you to let go too."

"Ah...! Maybe it really is time to let go!"

"Thank you, Gray."

"I'm really not used to you suddenly acting like this."

"I'll remember that punch you gave me just now. One day, I'll return it."

Gray snapped, "Are you looking for a fight, bastard?!"

"Didn't I just knock you flat?"

"I let you!" Gray and Lyon immediately started arguing with each other.

Natsu said excitedly, "Great! The mission is finally complete!"

Ye said slowly, "Who told you the mission was complete? Don't forget what our mission was."

Everyone suddenly realized. "Destroy the moon... but how is that possible?"

Yuka looked at the Fairy Tail group. "What are you talking about, destroying the moon?"

"That was our commission. The village below was cursed by Deliora and turned into demons, so the village chief asked us to destroy the moon."

Ye stared speechlessly at his guildmates.

"Have you still not figured it out? If the village had truly been cursed by Deliora, why would Lyon and the others, who were so close to Deliora, be fine?"

"Yeah! Why are they fine?" Natsu asked Lucy.

"How would I know?!" (ꐦÒ‸Ó)

"And you want to take S-Class Missions? You're still far from ready."

Lucy asked, "Then, Ye, do you already know how to solve this?"

"When I saw those three, I roughly understood."

"What?! How could that be?!"

"Alright, let's return to the village first. Everything will be resolved there."

Ye and Lyon's group all returned to the village.

The village chief came over to greet them. "Lord Ye, have you found a way to destroy the moon?"

Lucy grumbled, "Why is he calling Ye 'Lord' now?"

Happy said, "Maybe seeing Natsu get completely crushed made him feel reverence."

Gray said slowly, "Ye, it's time to explain how to solve this, right?"

Ye said slowly, "Actually, it's very simple. We destroy the moon!"

"How is that possible? It's so far away, you can't even reach it."

Happy said, "Want me to carry you up there?"

Lucy complained, "None of you doubt that he can destroy the moon? You're worried about whether he can reach it instead?"

"Everyone, move back!"

Ye slowly took off his shirt, revealing his exaggerated physique.

Lucy and Lyon's group were stunned.

Lucy said fearfully, "What is that? It looks like the face of an evil demon."

Happy explained, "That's called a Demon Back. It's the symbol of the Night Clan."

"There's actually a race like that?!"

Ye slowly crouched down and assumed the stance for a Kamehameha. As he activated his Demon Back, a purple aura gradually drifted from his body. An astonishing presence instantly burst from him, forcing everyone around him back.

Gray said in shock, "We can't even get close just because of his aura?! The gap between us is way too huge!"

Only Natsu was excited like an idiot. "So strong! One day, I'll surpass him!"

Happy shook his head. "Impossible, Natsu!"

Ka... me... ha... me... HAAAAH!!!

An energy blast a meter wide shot into the sky and surged toward the moon.

"Everyone, look! The moon shattered!"

"What?! ━Σ(ﾟДﾟ|||)━ He really shattered it?!"

A cracking sound suddenly rang out from the sky, and the moon changed from purple back to its original color.

Lucy asked in confusion, "The moon changed back."

Ye explained, "The moon looks the same no matter where you are. Since the moon seen from this island was different, the problem had to be on the island itself."

"I think Moon Drip formed a thin film in the sky that covered the entire island. Now that I broke the film, the moon naturally returned to normal."

Lucy looked at the villagers. "But they haven't returned to normal."

"They haven't changed back because they were demons from the start. Moon Drip merely confused their memories and made them believe they were human. At night, when moonlight passed through the film formed by Moon Drip and shone on them, combined with Moon Drip's own demon-breaking effect, it caused them to return to their original forms."

The village chief thought for a moment. "It seems exactly as Lord Ye said. We were demons from the beginning... but I killed my own child with my own hands."

"Dad!"

The village chief turned toward the voice.

"Bobo, you're alive? But I remember... I stabbed you."

"That little injury is nothing to us demons."

The village chief and his son spent some time catching up.

"Alright, everything has come to a happy end!"

"Thank you, Lord Ye. I'll offer the commission payment shortly."

"There's no need, Village Chief. Keep the commission payment. One of our guild members accepted it without permission, and besides, it wasn't a particularly difficult commission to begin with. Let it go this time."

"Thank you so much, Lord Ye! If so, please accept this key no matter what."

Lucy looked at the key. "It's one of the Golden Twelve Houses? There's something like this too?"

The village chief explained, "This key was originally included in the commission payment. Didn't you notice?"

Lucy mocked herself. "We only looked at the reward money. We didn't see it at all."

Ye said, "Lucy, accept this key. No one is more suited to it than you."

"Really?! Then thank you so much!"

"But the punishment when we return can't be skipped either."

"Got it, got it!"

Natsu said excitedly, "We completed an S-Class Mission. Does that mean we can accept S-Class Missions from now on?"

Ye looked at Natsu as if he were an idiot. "What are you thinking? No chance. This doesn't count as an S-Class Mission at all. Don't forget, the guild master still has a punishment waiting for you when we get back. That punishment... you know the one!"

Natsu and Happy looked miserably at Ye.

"Anything but that!"

Lucy asked curiously, "What is that?"

Ye said mysteriously, "You'll find out when we get back."

Gray said to Lyon, "Lyon, do you want to join a guild too? Teacher once said that there were many powerful mages on the other side of the continent. At first, I didn't believe it either, but after I came to Fairy Tail, I discovered that everything Ur said was right. And Ye is the strongest mage I've ever seen."

"A mere Gray thinks he can lecture his senior? Hmph!"

Gray snapped, "You really are impossible to like."

"Then we'll be going!"

Yuka looked at Lyon. "Zero Emperor..."

"Call me Lyon from now on."

"Lyon, do you want to join Lamia Scale?"

"I don't have anywhere to go for now, so I'll go with you."

"Awesome!"

Lyon suddenly remembered something and shouted at Gray, "Gray! Be careful of someone called Zalty! He was the one who helped me break Deliora's seal!"

"Got it!"

"Ye, have you heard that name before?"

"Zalty... I think I probably know who it is."

"Who?!"

"You don't need to know about this. For now, it's not something you can bear."

"Ah... what a letdown."

"Work hard and grow stronger. Once your strength reaches a certain level, all secrets will unfold before you."