Crack.
From the outskirts of the village came the sound of ice breaking.
A Celestial Spirit with the body of an old-fashioned pendulum clock, long thin limbs, and an expressionless face emerged from the falling chunks of ice.
Lucy was curled up inside the clock, her wide eyes scanning the unfamiliar, frozen world around her with confusion.
In the second before she was frozen, Horologium had sensed the danger and appeared just in time to protect her.
"What exactly happened? How did the village suddenly end up like this?" she asked.
Though the surrounding area was completely silent, Horologium dutifully conveyed Lucy's words before answering: "Lady Lucy, in that instant just now, an incredibly powerful cold magic power erupted suddenly."
Powerful cold magic power?
Just as Lucy was about to ask for details, Horologium's body began to glow with scattering specks of light.
"If danger comes again, I won't be able to come out and protect you. So—"
"Lady Lucy, please be very, very careful."
Leaving those words in a grave tone, with a poof, Horologium—having reached its limit from blocking the freezing—turned into smoke and vanished on the spot.
Though it was a Silver Key Celestial Spirit with no combat ability whatsoever, Horologium's automatic danger-detection mode made it an incredibly powerful life-saving tool for a frail, low-defense Celestial Spirit mage. Calling it the strongest Celestial Spirit wouldn't be an exaggeration!
Suddenly left without support, Lucy tumbled to the ground. Thanks to having enough padding on her rear to cushion the fall, it didn't hurt—but the thick layer of pale purple ice on the ground was so cold it made her shiver uncontrollably.
"It's freezing! Why has the temperature dropped so much?"
Lucy scrambled to her feet, hugging her arms tightly around her chest. "I didn't feel a thing inside Horologium—"
"Wait! Where's Chase, Éclair, the old village chief, and the others?!"
Looking up at the enormous ice sculpture of a magical beast standing before her, Lucy suddenly realized what was important. Ignoring the cold air spreading around her, she turned and ran back toward the now-frozen village.
Then, at the entrance to the village path, she saw a man standing alone: Silver Fullbuster.
The cold wind blew, lifting the gray cape beneath his armor. It was just an ordinary silhouette, but in that instant, Lucy's face went pale with terror. A bone-chilling coldness flowed through her entire body, and her hands and feet began trembling uncontrollably.
After appearing, Silver had stopped concealing his presence.
In Lucy's eyes at that moment, he wasn't a human man at all. He was a terrifying monster—a fearsome beast wrapped in a storm of terrifying magic power, with sharp claws, long fangs, and blood-red eyes!
Even Bacchus, the strongest mage of Mermaid Heel, upon sensing this oppressive aura—something that absolutely should not belong to a human—had backed down on the spot and obediently gotten out of the way.
Let alone a new guild member who had only joined Fairy Tail a few months ago—
"Lucy! Stay there and don't come any closer!"
A familiar, reassuring voice rang out, successfully dispelling the fear rising in Lucy's heart. Her breathing gradually returned to calm.
Thank goodness. If Chase is okay, then Éclair and the village chief must be safe too!
Lucy let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Not having seen any ice statues of the others in the village, she easily guessed that they had most likely been protected by Chase's Card Magic.
"Little girl, no need to be so nervous. You're not my target this time."
Silver glanced casually at Lucy, showing no intention of attacking. Instead, he reached up and scratched his head, looking a bit troubled as he muttered to himself, "I was originally planning to resolve things without showing myself, then unfreeze you all afterward. I didn't expect you'd both have ways to avoid it."
"How troublesome. It's been a long time since I've interacted with humans. Where should I even start?"
"Hmm... I suppose I should begin with a self-introduction!"
His strange, slightly polite demeanor made Lucy's expression turn somewhat suspicious. He has such terrifying, cold magic power, but unexpectedly... he seems like a reasonably nice person?
Wait! Why does this guy look so familiar?!
Just as Lucy subconsciously pictured a certain clothes-dropping pervert in her mind, Silver had already begun his introduction: "Hello there, mages of Fairy Tail. I'm Silver, a member of the dark guild Tartaros's Nine Demon Gates."
A dark guild? Like Eisenwald and the Skeleton Guild—an illegal guild not bound by the Senate?
Lucy was startled.
At this point in time, Mirajane hadn't yet taught her about the Balam Alliance, so she didn't know what the name "Tartaros" represented.
By comparison, Chase was much calmer. He pretended to know nothing and asked, "Tartaros? I didn't expect a dark guild to come running to take on a legitimate quest like this..."
As long as Gray wasn't mentioned, Silver acted like nothing more than a cheerful middle-aged man.
In the original story, when he first met Natsu, he had even smiled and thanked Natsu for mistakenly freezing Sun Village.
"No, no, no. I have zero interest in quests. I came all the way here because I heard a demon had appeared."
Silver's gaze swept across the battered, ruined forest in the distance. He spread his hands and smiled with a hint of admiration. "I didn't expect to witness such an impressive Demon King subjugation battle."
Then, the smile at the corner of his mouth abruptly changed. His eyes turned fierce and vicious as he said coldly, "So, Fairy Tail mage... are you going to hand over the Demon Egg and those demonized creatures to me?"
His family, friends, and even he himself had all died at the hands of the demon Deliora. Then his corpse had been targeted by the Tartaros demon Priest of Darkness · Keith. Under the control of Necromancy, he became a walking corpse under constant surveillance.
Because of this, Silver harbored an intense hatred for demons. Over the years, he had been traveling the world, destroying demons wherever he found them.
He had even learned Ice Devil Slayer Magic for the sole purpose of killing E.N.D., the strongest fire demon from the Book of Zeref!
And that was the real reason he had appeared at this "Demon Village" deep within Bondari Forest!
Fully aware of the reasons behind this, Chase narrowed his eyes.
Leaving aside the Demon Egg—which he was planning to give to Mirajane as a gift—the demon villagers, who were originally human, were something he could never let Silver personally exterminate, no matter what.
Explaining would be too much trouble, and Silver, who had gone completely mad with his demon-killing obsession, probably wouldn't listen anyway.
So...
"If you want them that badly..."
A magic circle spun as Chase twirled the card containing the village demonrs and the Demon Egg between his fingers, grinning. "Come and get them yourself."
Whoosh!
Surging battle intent erupted into a raging tide of dark gold magic power, whipping up a frenzied cyclone around him that radiated a heart-stopping oppressive pressure.
Seeing this, Silver abandoned any thought of continuing to negotiate. His expression darkened completely as his own body exploded with an equally deep and terrifying aura.
"Hmph. A young man who can't read the situation. Believe me... you will absolutely regret that foolish decision!"
***
Dive deeper into the story with 30+ advance chapters, available now on Patreon!
patreon.com/CNBLUE
If you're enjoying the novel, please consider leaving a review. Your support is crucial and helps the story grow immensely. Thank you!