Even though Erza hadn't been officially certified through an S-Class exam, her strength was undeniably at an S-Class level.
To crush her this easily—leave her down and possibly on the verge of death…
Who the hell was it?
A dark guild under Hades? Or something tied to Erza's family name?
Thoughts tangled in Shane's mind like a knotted mess.
But in the end, every thread snapped into the simplest, most direct action.
—Draw the bow.
Whoever it was, if they dared hurt Erza, they were an enemy.
And enemies got dealt with.
"Tw—ng!"
The instant his resolve settled, a brilliant golden arrow shot from the string.
Wrapped in a shriek that tore through the air, it blasted from the top of the clock tower toward the forest clearing thousands of meters away.
Shane didn't dare waste even a heartbeat—Erza could die.
His mechanical dragon wings snapped open, and his whole body became a bolt of black lightning, chasing after the arrow.
"Go to the riverbank and find your companions!"
Only that short command dropped from the sky—then, along with a straight white trail that split the clouds, he vanished into the distance.
Below, the two Lucys—one big, one small—tilted their heads up, dazedly staring at the fading afterimage, the ear-splitting sonic boom still ringing in their ears.
…
Forest clearing.
The younger Erza braced both hands on the ground, struggling to push herself up.
Her Flight Armor was shattered over half. Naked skin was crisscrossed with sword cuts; blood ran down the wounds in winding lines and seeped into the dirt.
Even so, she clenched her teeth—her fighting spirit hadn't dimmed even a little.
But the cloaked figure's deliberately lowered voice in her ear felt indescribably strange:
"…Listen carefully, Erza. Kagura's talent is strong, but you don't need to teach every tiny detail hand-over-hand."
"If she only imitates you, it might actually smother her own spark."
"And you need to guide Kagura to fuse her magic more with swordplay—don't focus only on pure sword forms…"
Future Erza rambled on, dumping teaching advice about Kagura.
She'd meant to use it as an opening—share experience first, then steer into the real point—but midway she suddenly froze.
"…Wait. What am I even saying? Why did this turn into a Kagura seminar?"
Under the hood, her expression went stiff.
"Ahem."
She coughed once and forcibly yanked the topic back on track, her tone turning cold again.
"Bottom line: manage your time properly! Don't spend every day orbiting your apprentice!"
"And as for Shane… you need to keep an eye on him at all times. You can't ignore him like before…"
"And your attitude toward him must—"
But the moment she mentioned Shane, the Erza on the ground reacted violently.
This person showed up out of nowhere, attacked out of nowhere, talked a ton of nonsense out of nowhere—now they were dragging Shane into it too?
Did this freak ever shut up?!
"Shut… up…"
Erza ground out the words, hatred for this intruder spiking to the ceiling.
At the same time, a fierce self-reproach churned inside her.
If I hadn't been drunk on the satisfaction of being a teacher lately… if I hadn't cut back on training…
How did I get this weak? How did I lose so easily to someone like this?
I can't even handle whatever danger Shane might face…
She bit down hard on her blood-stained lip, hating her own recent laziness.
"She's not listening at all…"
Future Erza knew exactly what "she" was thinking.
She was definitely spiraling again—blaming herself for not training enough, not being strong enough…
"How were you this stubborn even as a kid?"
Future Erza sighed internally.
"And that's exactly why you keep getting burned later, you idiot."
Seeing those eyes—bright with anger and guilt—her heart softened. She was about to say something gentler—
Suddenly.
"WOOOONG—!!!"
A piercing killing intent, completely undisguised, dropped from the sky with a razor-sharp scream through the air!
A golden arrow-light—like divine punishment—shot straight for her brow.
"This is… Shane's arrow?"
"He noticed what was happening here that fast?"
Future Erza startled—then, beneath the hood, her lips unconsciously curved.
"This guy… does he actually pay that much attention to me?"
"Heh."
A meaningless little laugh slipped out. With a flick of her hand—
The hundreds of floating swords behind her snapped to life like serpents, surging into a steel flood to meet the shot.
"BOOM!!"
The collision kicked up a sky of dust.
"Still hits like a truck… just like always."
After blocking the strike, she murmured in admiration. Even taking it as an "enemy," her mood was bizarrely excellent.
"Since you're here… let's have a long-overdue spar."
She simply abandoned her "bullying" of her past self, turned around, and waited calmly for the owner of that killing intent.
Not long after—
Cutting through the dust came two vicious, black, monstrous spears!
"Down!"
Shane fell like a meteor. His usual laziness was gone without a trace—replaced by suffocating cold.
"CLANG!"
Future Erza raised her sword to block. The impact spider-webbed the ground under her feet, cracking and collapsing in an instant.
His sneak attack had been defused, but Shane's expression didn't change at all.
Using the rebound, he slid back half a step—then scarlet fire erupted around him. A black katana condensed instantly in his palm.
The next second—
The air temperature spiked. Invisible flames began to scorch the space itself.
The world around them warped, as if reality were being gnawed at by some "inner landscape."
[Reality Marble]
Facing a mysterious enemy who could crush Erza so easily, Shane didn't bother with probing.
He opened with his trump card.
And yet—
The more decisive Shane became, the wider the smile under Future Erza's hood grew.
"Seriously…"
She snickered inside.
"You tease everyone else for being tsundere, but you're exactly the same."
She didn't slow at all. Her movements stayed smooth, clean, flawless.
"Shff!"
Her body flickered.
In the split second before the Reality Marble could fully unfold, she flashed back beside the fallen girl.
Then, without hesitation, she grabbed the badly injured younger Erza and pulled her up—placing her in front.
She—took herself hostage.
Future Erza knew Shane too well.
If it was only a Reality Marble, and if he attacked before forging that one blade—Tsumukari, the sword that cut down everything—she could probably manage with her current strength.
What she wasn't sure about was whether Shane, at this point in time, had already obtained that other ability—
That ability full of malice, one that was 100% designed to counter women.
If she got hit by that even once… even she could be killed instantly.
"Better to be careful."
Future Erza rested an armored hand under the girl's chin, even giving it a little scratch like a prank.
She was annoyed at her past self—why hadn't she paid more attention to Shane's abilities? Then she wouldn't be this passive now.
Having to use herself as a shield…
On the other side—
Seeing the enemy shamelessly use Erza as a hostage, Shane's raised blade stiffened.
The warped air calmed, the forming Reality Marble dissolving with it.
"Tch… troublesome."
His eyes were ice.
He was about to start calculating how to break the situation and save her—
When suddenly, deep within his "sea of heart," something strange rippled.
A resonance.
A sensation he knew too well.
The flutter that belonged to Erza—what should have been one single pulse—was now… two.
And the frequency was perfectly identical. Like twins.
"This feeling…"
He'd only ever felt this kind of heart-light resonance from one person.
"…"
The guess that surfaced was absurd. Ridiculous, even.
But Shane slowly let the katana in his hand fade anyway, his expression turning… strange.
"You're not going to use that move after all?"
The cloaked figure assumed the hostage tactic had worked. A rare, mischievous impulse rose—she deliberately lowered her voice, imitating a villain's taunting drawl.
"Is it because you're worried about her?"
Shane's gaze slid past the distance, landing on the few strands of scarlet hair fluttering out from the edge of the hood.
He froze—then the corner of his mouth lifted into an expression that was equal parts helpless and amused.
"So you really… got worse."
He shook his head and cleanly canceled his spirit-form.
The katana vanished. The flames died.
And just like that—completely unguarded—he walked toward her step by step.
"You've given up? Or you want to negotiate to trade for the hostage?"
Future Erza kept up the villain act, sword tip lifting slightly.
Shane only shook his head.
"No need to make it that complicated."
While he spoke, he was already right in front of them.
"Lost your mind? Walking up like this—aren't you afraid I'll strike?"
Future Erza's heart jumped. She started to bring the flat of the blade up to force him back—
Then she stopped.
Because Shane ignored the sword point entirely.
Or rather—he ignored her.
"THUD!"
A heavy impact.
In Future Erza's stunned, confused stare, Shane drove a fist straight into the abdomen of the weak girl she was holding.
"Ugh—!"
Like the final straw on a broken back.
Already battered and exhausted, the younger Erza didn't even manage a sound—she just went limp, collapsing into the "mysterious person's" arms.
"???"
Future Erza's brain blue-screened. She stared at Shane in disbelief, her voice cracking.
"What are you doing?!"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
Shane gave a cold, razor-thin laugh, crossing his arms and stabbing his gaze straight into the eyes hidden under that hood.
"What are you doing to yourself, Erza?"
Silence.
Only the rustle of leaves in the wind filled the forest. The awkwardness peaked into something almost painful.
"He figured it out? Impossible…"
Future Erza panicked and tugged the hood down, checking she was still covered tight.
"Because you're flustered, you're talking nonsense now?"
She tried to salvage her dignity, forcing her voice back into a chilling edge.
"Don't think this means you can—"
Behind her, hundreds of blades flared with vicious cold light.
Sword tips trembled—ready to turn Shane into a pincushion just to make her words sound more convincing.
"Still acting?"
Shane rolled his eyes so hard it was practically theatrical.
He ignored the hovering blades completely and stepped in, grabbing the edge of the oversized hood.
"You—" Future Erza tried to dodge, but that familiar look pinned her in place.
"You think I don't know you after all this time?"
Shane's movements were too natural. His tone too certain.
So certain that for a second, Erza forgot to resist—
and he yanked the hood off in one clean motion.
"Wh—sh…"
The hood slid down.
A cascade of scarlet hair spilled like a waterfall, blazing under the sunlight.
A face—more mature, more refined, yet still dignified and fierce—was exposed to the air.
Right now, it was filled with stunned panic… and the faintest flush of embarrassment from being caught red-handed.
Seeing how ridiculously cute she looked when flustered, Shane's grin shot up into a triumphant curve.
"Well?"
He smiled like he'd finally landed the punchline.
"Still going to deny it, Miss Future Erza?"
~~~
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