The power used by both fighters did not go unnoticed by the people on the island. Just as Hades increased the intensity of his powers, Karna's powers immediately disappeared from the senses of every wizard present in the island.
For a moment most were confused, other than the Fairy Tail members who knew about the stealth capabilities of the death slayer form. They knew Karna was now manifesting a power that has never lost out while battling any opponent.
They had never seen him get hurt while using this power, only the exhaustion that comes later remains the only indication that he ever used it. The enemies that had faced him while he used it had not survived to tell the tale.
As they were bracing for what was about to come, they sensed a change. A change that made every wizard who were spreading their senses to the ship recoil in utter terror.
Karna was feeling the essence of what he had unlocked right now. The system was showing some kind of garbled information as it began processing what was happening to him. But because of what was happening to him, he was unable to focus on it, but he did hear one word.
[$#%#$@$#@Ascension!@##$%#$$@$]
His death slayer powers were evolving. He had never concentrated the death energy before like this and it seems to be pushing him to a new height without even his knowledge.
The wizards sensing the ship began to perceive the presence of an existence they were never supposed to see. A void, something that should not exist, something that should never be perceived by a living being, the more they sensed it, the more terrified they became, but its depth had a kind of pulling force that seemed latch onto the senses of the wizards who committed the blasphemy of perceiving it.
"SHUT DOWN YOUR SENSES NOW!!!!"
No one had any knowledge who shouted that sentence out, but it saved every single wizard who were mesmerised by its power.
Makarov, the wizard saint, the master of Fairy tail. Immediately realised the conundrum all wizards were facing right now. So, he decided to save them irrespective of whether they were enemies or not.
He activated one of the three powerfullest spells of the fairy tail guild that has the ability to wipe out those who are considered as the enemy by the caster of the spell. The intensity of the magic absorbed by the spell depends on the number as well as the power of the enemies the wizard casts the spell on.
A Golden aura that shined brighter than the sun began to spread from him, covering the entire island and a few miles beyond it.
But Makarov made a modification on the spell, instead of targeting the wizards, it targeted the chain that connected the wizard to the void that had formed within the ship. The wizards who were unable to retract their senses from the ship was finally able to escape from its clutches, escaping from a fate that would have resulted in death.
Cough Cough!
Makarov spat out a bit of blood.
"Master!!" Erza cried out in fear.
"Don't worry about it child, its just a backlash of using the spell in an entirely different manner from what it was intended. Thank god that the first master perfected the spell, otherwise the deviation of the spell structure would have taken more than what it did right now" Makarov calmly replied as he wiped the blood from his lips.
He then looked at Azuma who was turning into a plant. Erza had managed to take him down before the incident happened just before.
For a moment even Makarov had fallen prey to the attractiveness of that power. But thankfully, the voice managed to pull him out long enough for him to cast the spell to save his family and the rest of the children in the island.
Even though they might have been enemies, they were still part of the guild created by Precht. So, Makarov was tentative in deciding whether to let them die in such a dreadful manner.
"But who was the one who shouted out to save us" Makarov voiced out his confusion as he had never heard that voice before.
But Erza recognised the voice, she has met its owner months ago and had regularly met her in the girls club at every session.
'Master Mavis'
At the same time a few minutes ago in Mavis's grave.
"To think you separated the body and soul so as to stop my influence from one side" muttered Ankhseram who looked at both Zeref and Mavis who were trapped under his control.
"You, Zeref Dragneel, you my dear was smarter than I ever gave you credit for, you realised my existence and realised I had a plan with Mavis, so at the moment when you were about to fall into my trap along with her, you modified her psyche for a few seconds, delaying the curse in her body so that the ritual will get interrupted" Ankhseram muttered as he sneered at Zeref who became trapped under his control along with Mavis's soul.
At the same time, the memories sealed by Zeref on his own head became undone as he realised what happened.
"Damn you !!" he cursed as he unable to do anything else.
Zeref had once theorised that the curse he struggled with was more than just a punishment for encroaching into the domain of death and life. his searches had proved that there were countless wizards who had walked that path similar to him but never got afflicted with this curse.
Plus, the nature of the curse of contradiction itself was suspicious. Realising that his mind cannot be trusted fully, he created a subconscious that recorded everything that he ever did so that it can help him when the time came and he ventured into something that will need him to be sane.
And it did happen, on the day where he met Mavis who had lost herself after the curse of contradiction within her started killing the beings around her.
The moment when he embraced her, the consciousness within his body answered him the greatest question it was meant to solve.
Why was he cursed?
And seeing the presence of another entity nearby along with the ritual about to be activated, prompted Zeref to do the best thing possible at the moment. He immediately used his mind arts to change the base of Mavis's emotions while simultaneously sealing the created consciousness within him along with the memories of what he had found.
He wanted to stop the curse of contradiction inside Mavis's body from activating and the only way to do that was to mess with her emotions. But at the same time, he knew she won't be in danger as the monster who kept them both in captivity would make sure that they both survived.
So he did, the curse within him was activated which expelled Mavis's soul from her body, thereby destroying any chance for Ankhseram to activate the curse in her body again.
And with his own memories sealed shut, Ankhseram will never be able ot realise that Zeref had found out the truth.
Zeref did it in the hope that someone will save both of them. But currently the world did not have that person, so the only thing he was able to do at the moment was to give the world enough time for it to give birth to someone who can stop a maniac planning on becoming a god while slaughtering countless on his way.
A/N- that was more than the usual number of words, but the way it is going, the chances of a few arcs after the seven years gap are not likely to happen. Hope you like it.