Jellal was still gripping his staff, staring at Shane warily.
But when his gaze flicked to Ultear—still caught in the aftermath of the illusion—an apologetic flash crossed his eyes.
"I'm sorry. The girl you bewitched… I hurt her by mistake. I already held back when I hit her. Go—run while you can!"
With that, he tapped his staff lightly and dismissed the spell he'd just cast.
Watching him treat Shane like a natural disaster—acting all righteous, ready to sacrifice himself to cover an "innocent" girl's retreat—Shane finally became completely certain:
This guy had definitely misunderstood something.
He couldn't help feeling speechless. "What do you mean 'bewitched girl'? Ultear clearly kicked me out of the way on purpose and rushed in to save someone, didn't she? Even if you think I'm some unforgivable enemy, why would you deliberately spare my companion in the middle of a fight? That makes zero sense."
"Companion?"
Jellal looked like he'd heard the funniest joke in the world.
"The evil dragon Shane has companions? Don't make me laugh."
"In this world, aside from fanatics who've been fooled by your power, who would sincerely stand on your side?"
At that moment, Ultear finally steadied herself after the illusion's impact.
She shook her dizzy head, checked her body, and realized that although the spell had looked huge, she'd suffered no real injury—just a bit of weakness—exactly like the blue-haired boy said.
She lifted her head, dazed, and caught Jellal's words.
"So… the target was… Shane?"
Ultear murmured, her eyes shifting between Jellal and Shane.
"Waaah…"
In the suffocating standoff, Wendy—still in Shane's arms—finally broke down crying.
Sniffling, she fought through her fear and started punching Shane's arm with tiny fists.
"Bad guy! Let me go! Don't you dare bully Jellal!"
"Okay, okay—stop, stop," Shane sighed. "If you keep hitting me, I'm going to drop you."
With Wendy about to bite him and Jellal looking ready to die for a misunderstanding, Shane let out a long, exhausted breath.
"What even is this situation…"
He gently set Wendy down.
Then, under Jellal's tense stare, he very straightforwardly raised both hands in a textbook surrender pose.
"I don't know who you think I am, or what weird plot you've built in your head," Shane said, weary and exasperated, "but you've got the wrong person. Yeah, my current form is dragon-related, but I'm not some evil dragon."
He pointed to the Fairy Tail mark on the back of his hand and said seriously, "I'm human. A Fairy Tail wizard. Shane."
"Fairy… Tail?"
Jellal froze. The redness in his eyes wavered into confusion.
He began studying this "Shane" properly.
No grotesque scales on his face. No cold, inhuman slit pupils.
A lazy expression. A loose stance. Even a trace of teenage softness.
That image simply wouldn't overlap with the creature in his memory—something perched high in the sky, indifferent and terrifying.
"…Right," Jellal whispered. "Same face… but this aura… it's completely different."
"This is Ishgar," he muttered, voice turning complicated. "Not… there…"
Realization hit, and some of the tension finally bled out of his body.
"You're… Ishgar's Shane?"
"Of course I'm Ishgar's Shane," Shane snapped. "What, did you think I was from somewhere else?"
He was internally drowning in complaints. Getting "mistaken identity" attacked out in the wild—seriously?
Then his eyes slid to Ultear, who was watching the whole thing like it was a show.
This sudden bad luck… had she secretly put some curse on him?
I mean, she came from a dark guild full of lost magic weirdos. A hex wouldn't be that shocking.
Ultear caught his suspicious look.
Instead of getting annoyed, she arched her brows slightly and curled her lips into a tiny, smug, unmistakably teasing smile.
As if to say: Didn't someone just tell me to stay quiet and leave the talking to him, so there wouldn't be misunderstandings?
Shane's mouth twitched—he understood instantly.
This woman really has endless energy…
He wanted to fire back, but then he remembered she'd stepped in and taken a hit for him.
Even if it was unnecessary. Even if he still didn't understand why she'd done it.
He'd take the favor.
Fine. It wasn't going to kill him. If she wanted to laugh, let her.
Meanwhile, Jellal seemed to finally organize his thoughts.
He lowered his head and soothed Wendy, who was still glaring at Shane like a puffed-up kitten.
When Wendy calmed down a little, Jellal looked back up. His tone was sincere, but heavy.
"I'm sorry… In my world, there's someone who looks almost exactly like you, but he's terrifying—like an evil dragon. I panicked and mistook you for him."
"An evil dragon…"
Shane repeated the phrase, frowning.
Part of him was annoyed at the idea of some "other him." Part of him was puzzled.
Even if two people looked alike, how could Jellal mistake them this badly?
Then he looked at the blue-haired boy—whose face was identical to the Jellal from the Tower of Heaven—and a spark jumped in his head.
"Wait. Don't tell me you—"
Jellal gave a bitter smile and sighed. "Looks like you know 'me' in this world."
Since Shane had already guessed, and clearly didn't mean harm, Jellal didn't bother hiding it anymore.
He lifted his staff and sprinkled a soft glow over Wendy. The light wrapped around her, and the girl's eyelids drooped as she fell into a gentle sleep—so she wouldn't have to hear the complicated parts.
Only then did Jellal turn to Shane and Ultear again.
"That's right. I'm not from Ishgar. I'm Jellal… from a parallel world—Edolas."
"Parallel world?"
Hearing a term he'd never encountered before, Shane reflexively glanced at Ultear—the resident walking encyclopedia.
She thought for a moment, then nodded slightly. "There are theories like that. Culture and history could be completely different, but in the endless void, it's possible for two similar 'flowers' to bloom."
Jellal nodded and gestured with his staff.
"As you can see, my home—Edolas—is a barren world where magic power is running dry."
"People there can't store magic power inside themselves the way you can. If we want to use magic, we have to rely on tools like this—items infused with magic power."
Shane finally got it.
No wonder Jellal's internal magic felt so thin and yet he could cast spells.
Now that Shane focused again, he could tell: the magic flow wasn't coming from Jellal's body at all—it was coming from the magic crystal embedded in the staff.