"Th-that... Lott-san, are... are you full?" Seeing Lott wasn't touching his chopsticks anymore, Mirajane mustered her courage again to ask.
"Yeah, your cooking's not bad. Though your strength is a bit lacking," Lott remarked, glancing at Mirajane's beautiful face, stating the truth as he saw it.
He recalled in the original Fairy Tail, this girl was on par with Erza when she first appeared.
Later, she basically became a high-tier side character.
"Th-thank you..." Mirajane forced a smile.
She wasn't really angry at Lott's comment.
After all, Lott certainly had the right to call her weak.
Never mind her… even if Zeref and the Black Dragon Acnologia came, if Lott called them trash, they wouldn't dare object.
"Then, c-could I ask Lott-san..." Mirajane took a shallow breath, wanting to state her request.
In her view, it shouldn't be an excessive request. After all, it was just asking Lott to throw an energy blast towards the west.
Just as Mirajane was about to speak, a large magic circle rose from one side of the ruins.
Then, a voice that was a nightmare to all Fairy Tail's members sounded from within:
"May I interrupt for a moment?"
All the surrounding Fairy Tail Guild's members immediately assumed fighting stances.
Because the newcomer was none other than the Black Wizard who had left them with countless nightmares… Zeref!
And not just that!
The people standing beside Zeref now... the Spriggan 12!
"Zeref! What are you trying to do?!" Makarov was the first to step forward and shout.
'This was a huge problem.'
'Not just Zeref, but the entire Spriggan 12 was present!'
'Were they launching a surprise attack at this moment?!'
"Don't worry, I'm not here for you," Zeref replied calmly, walking towards Lott.
He wasn't particularly afraid… in fact, he rather hoped Lott would kill him in a fit of rage.
Of course, the prerequisite was that Lott could kill him.
"Could you please kill me? The strongest in the universe, Mr. Lott," Zeref said as he stopped before Lott, his expression calm.
Those unfamiliar with Zeref's personality had drastic changes in expression.
'Holy shit, what's going on?'
'Actively seeking death?'
Lott looked the guy over a few times.
'Oh, right.'
'This guy had @'ed me and Goku in the group a few years ago, wanting us to kill him.'
Goku never killed willingly, so of course he wouldn't agree to such a request.
Lott simply couldn't be bothered and replied with 'Go run into a wall yourself', then blocked him.
But after seeing via live stream that Lott had come to this planet, Zeref couldn't wait to come over.
He wanted Lott to end him.
After all, opportunities like this were rare.
"...Mira, get me a milk tea." After a brief silence, Lott suddenly spoke.
"Oh, uh, s-sure." Mirajane was stunned for a moment before reacting. She hurried to the neighboring restaurant and soon returned with a cup of milk tea.
Lott took it and downed it in one go.
Then-
Smash!
Witnessing Lott smash the glass cup against Zeref's head, reminiscent of a certain scene, even blasting the other's entire head off, scared the more timid girls like Lucy, Levy, and Lisanna so much they covered their mouths tightly, nearly screaming.
Zeref's headless body fell to the ground with a thud.
"First time I've heard a request like that." Lott tossed away the mostly shattered glass and wiped his blood-stained right hand on Mirajane's apron.
Feeling the masculine aura emanating from him, Mirajane's heartbeat involuntarily quickened.
"Hey! That guy!" Natsu pointed at Zeref's 'corpse' and shouted in alarm.
They saw dark, water-like, mist-like energies gathering around Zeref's severed neck.
In less than ten seconds, they visibly coalesced into a new head!
The visual effect was extremely similar to the Logia intangibility from the Planet Pirate, but the principle was completely different!
"Even you can't kill me?" Zeref's voice upon waking was filled with disappointment.
Lott, whose hand was still on Mirajane's apron, was speechless.
"Am I being looked down on?" Lott asked Mirajane sideways.
"Uh... I, I don't know..." Mirajane scratched her head and replied, steeling herself.
The next instant, Lott grabbed Zeref by the collar.
The huge difference in their sizes was like a tiger holding a kitten.
Then, Lott threw Zeref high into the air like a baseball.
Zeref vanished from sight in an instant!
But it wasn't over!
A dazzling green light surged in the palm of Lott's right hand.
He thrust it towards the direction Zeref had flown.
Boom-
The clouds over Magnolia Town were pierced, creating a giant hole.
They could even vaguely see the starry river beyond the atmosphere.
Clap~ Clap~
Lott patted his hands lightly and said calmly, "He won't bother me now."
Several minutes passed, and Zeref still hadn't fallen back down.
Mirajane, who had been standing with her mouth agape in shock, barely managed to collect herself and asked dazedly, "L-Lott-san, is Zeref... dead?"
"Not dead, but it's about the same. At least he's stopped thinking, probably." Lott said indifferently.
That's right, Lott used the same method Joseph Joestar used against Kars.
Although Zeref's life force was probably stronger than Kars's ultimate life form-
It had a similar feel to Orochi, who represented the planet's will.
As long as this planet wasn't destroyed, Zeref couldn't truly die.
So he can just make him stop thinking.
And to be safe, he'd been blasted into mincemeat.
It should be fine.
"Annoying. Go out for a meal and run into a lunatic. I'm leaving." Lott raised his hand to his forehead, preparing to use Instant Transmission.
Mirajane hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping herself.
Although Zeref probably wasn't a concern anymore, and she didn't really need to keep Lott any longer... she still wanted to ask him to stay a bit longer.
"Please wait a moment." At that point, one of the Spriggan 12 stepped forward to stop Lott.
The one who spoke was a mature beauty whose figure was no less impressive than Hancock's or Tsunade's, dressed in a lady's magic robe.
When Erza saw this person, she froze completely.
The other Fairy Tail's members had similar reactions.
Their attention had been entirely on Zeref before, so they hadn't noticed.
'This woman looked so much like Erza!'
Lucy: "Wh-who is that? She looks so much like Erza-san!"
Levy: "Are they related?"
Wendy: "I-I don't know, but she's so pretty... and her chest is so big..."
The red-haired mature woman, who bore a striking resemblance to Erza, walked up to Lott leaning on her staff and bowed slightly.
"This humble one is Irene Belserion. I have a matter I wish to ask for Lott-sama's help with."
Lott: "..."
After a brief silence, Lott's expression grew increasingly grim.
"You lunatics think I'm a wishing well? Should I send you all to the Afterlife together?" Lott's growing impatience was accompanied by a rising killing intent.
This scared the other Spriggan 12 members behind Irene senseless.
Ajeel Ramal, who used Sand Magic, and Neinhart, who used Dead Manifestation Magic, turned and ran.
In their panic, they even tripped and fell flat on their faces.
They didn't want to die!
Irene's expression remained unchanged. She just bowed her head even lower. "I hope Lott-sama can lift the curse upon me. It is an attachment from Dragon Slayer Magic that even Zeref could not remove. For this, I can only beseech Lott-sama..."
The meaning was clear enough at this point.
Irene wanted to borrow the Dragon Balls.
Mirajane beside Lott couldn't help but chuckle quietly.
'Who the f*ck are you? Qualified to borrow the Dragon Balls?'
Lott simply cursed, 'Crazy woman', and prepared to leave.
However, the next second, Irene's action shocked everyone senseless.
Just as Lott raised his hand to use Instant Transmission, Irene suddenly threw away her staff and then... grabbed at Lott's belt.