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"E.N.D.?"
Noah's eyebrow lifted. His gaze fixed instantly on the black-clad young man squaring off against Gildarts.
The young man's face held an inhuman detachment, and in his hand was an unremarkable, worn, dark-brown book. He was, without question, the de-facto ruler of Tartaros — Mard Geer, the Underworld King.
"Drunken Uncle, can you handle this?" Noah called out, his tone as easy as if he were watching a street performance. "If not, say the word. And try not to punch through the deck. Though it's pretty battered already."
"You brat, stop with the commentary."
Gildarts sidestepped to avoid a burst of White Light cast by Mard Geer and countered with a punch. The overwhelming force of his Crush, like an invisible hammer, instantly pulverized the massive twisted thorns Mard Geer had summoned from below to ensnare him.
The violent airflow sent Mard Geer's black coat whipping. He twisted his hand, and his Absorb Curse drew in the spreading force of Gildarts' Crush, dissipating it.
For a stretch of time, Gildarts and Mard Geer, wielding the triple curses of White Light, Thorn, and Absorb, exchanged blow for blow in a deadlock.
Hades, watching the battle from where he stood, frowned. At his level of experience, gauging Gildarts' true strength was not difficult. He should have been able to end this far sooner. Against Bluenote, the fight was over in a single exchange. Against Mard Geer, he was holding back to a degree that made no sense.
More than that, there was a quality to Gildarts' fighting that struck Hades as constrained, as though something was weighing on him.
An E.N.D. who was long dead. Could he really be worth this much caution?
Hades didn't understand. Noah saw it clearly.
Every time Gildarts' Crush was about to land on Mard Geer or come close to the book in his hand, it would subtly pull back just a fraction of its force, or shift its trajectory at the last moment.
The Book of E.N.D. was Natsu's lifeline. Damage the book, and Natsu was hurt. Destroy the book, and Natsu died.
Gildarts' bond with Natsu needed no explaining. He simply couldn't bring himself to risk it.
Mard Geer's pale face remained expressionless, but deep in his cold eyes, a gleam of understanding surfaced.
As the founder and ruler of Tartaros, his battle instincts were exceptionally sharp. Gildarts' subtle restraint had not escaped him.
He allowed a smile of unclear meaning to cross his face. His figure flickered, evading another Crush-imbued punch powerful enough to split rock, and in the same motion, his left hand raised the dark-brown Book of E.N.D., almost casually, to position it directly in the path of Gildarts' follow-up strike.
The movement was small. The effect was immediate.
Gildarts' pupils contracted. His Crush-charged fist stopped dead less than half a foot from the book. The violent energy backlash sent a sharp ache through his arm muscles.
That fraction of a second was all Mard Geer needed. The curve of his lips grew colder. He seized the opening, and his Curse Power surged.
Nine massive, twisted gates of pitch-black energy rose out of thin air around Gildarts, sealing off the space he occupied from all directions. Grotesque demonic faces were carved into the gates, and eerie green ghost-fire burned in their hollow eye sockets. The moment they appeared, a powerful pulling force radiated from them, the kind that seemed to reach into a person and drag at something deeper than flesh.
"I don't know why you're so wary of E.N.D.," Mard Geer said, his voice as measured as ever. "But it doesn't matter, foolish human. It's time for a permanent farewell."
"Underworld Melody: Death Flow!"
The nine gates swung open, and a torrent of churning dark energy swallowed Gildarts whole.
Hades' eye narrowed sharply. He clenched his right hand. Powerful Dark Magic condensed in an instant. Without the Devil's Heart sustaining him, his aging body's recovery rate was a shadow of what it once was. His Magic Power was now a diminishing resource with every use.
But the man who had shattered his own convictions no longer chased the illusion of the Ultimate Magic World. All he wanted now was for whatever remained in his failing body to be of some use to Fairy Tail.
He moved to intervene.
A force dissipated his magic before he could act. He looked at Noah, uncertain why the young man was stopping him.
"Don't underestimate Gildarts."
That was all Noah said. He offered no further explanation.
After his Magic Power awakening, Gildarts was not the same fighter he had been. If he chose to stop holding back, this so-called Underworld King would already be finished. The problem was the book. Mard Geer had seen through Gildarts' concern and was using E.N.D.'s tome as a shield, keeping him hesitant with every exchange.
Noah's figure vanished.
Mard Geer felt only a rush of wind and instinctively raised his hand to deploy his Absorb Curse.
Then came the pain.
The Absorb Curse broke as if it were nothing, and a hand closed hard around Mard Geer's wrist. He looked up and found himself face to face with the white-haired human youth who had been standing with Hades moments ago.
The pressure Noah exerted was something else entirely. It dwarfed Gildarts. And he had felt no Magical Power fluctuations at all during the movement.
"This book is too much for you to handle." Noah's voice was calm, carrying an authority that left no room for argument. He extended his other hand, not to attack. More like a demand. "Give it to me."
Every alarm in Mard Geer's instincts sounded at once. A crisis unlike anything he had felt before closed around him. But hand over the Book of E.N.D.? That was unthinkable.
"Curse Power, Release!"
Mard Geer roared and unleashed his full Curse Power, pushing himself into his Etherious Form. His human appearance fell away, replaced by a towering black-winged demon form, over three meters tall, radiating a suffocating aura.
But Mard Geer's face, now in his true form, showed not triumph, only deep bone-level horror and bewilderment.
His left wrist was still locked in that grip. The dense Curse Power flooding his body seemed to have no effect whatsoever on the human holding him.
A crack sounded.
Mard Geer's wrist gave way under a force too great to resist. Before the pain could fully register, time itself seemed to stop. He could only watch, wide-eyed, as that hand reached into his embrace and lifted the Book of E.N.D. away from him with no effort at all.
This was not magic.
It was not any power system he had ever encountered or conceived of.
Who was this person?
While Mard Geer's mind was still reeling, the nine demon gates that had trapped Gildarts vanished without sound or light, undone by Crush: Disassemble.
Gildarts stepped out completely unharmed.
Noah held up the demon book and shook it once in his direction. "Now, Drunken Uncle, go all out. And this airship can still be fixed, so don't add any more damage to my ship."
An immense spatial pressure descended from all directions, pinning Mard Geer's lunging form in place.
Gildarts said nothing. But the hand he extended toward Mard Geer had already closed into a fist.
Crush, activated.
Crushing Evil, Spreading the Truth: Empyrean!