Jellal thought his plan to revive Zeref was already insane, but now he realized Kira's ideas were on a whole other level of crazy.
"You're saying… Zeref isn't dead?" The news hit Jellal like a bolt of lightning, leaving him sweating.
Was it possible? Totally possible! This was Zeref they were talking about—the greatest dark wizard in 400 years, the one no one could touch!
Jellal had never even considered this before. If Kira was right and Zeref was still alive, then everything he'd done all these years… was it all for nothing?
"No way! Absolutely impossible!" Jellal shot back, refusing to believe it. "If Zeref were alive, this world would already be under his rule!"
He was practically shouting now, trying to convince himself more than anyone else.
"Zeref's world would be a true paradise. This world we're in? It's so ugly it makes me sick!!"
His nervous expression and frantic yelling betrayed his panic. He couldn't accept that everything he'd worked for might be pointless.
"Hahaha…" Suddenly, Jellal burst into laughter, almost giddy. "That's right! Zeref's long dead! I'm the only one who's ever sensed his spirit and spoken to him. Someone like you could never understand!"
This guy's beyond saving!
How could Jellal be this dense? How did Ultear convince him she was channeling Zeref's spirit?! Ultear was barely older than Jellal—eight years ago, she would've just been a kid herself. How'd she get that good at sweet-talking?!
If Kira had that kind of smooth-talking skill, he wouldn't be stressing about his shop's lack of customers!
Kira couldn't help but think the world had it out for him when it came to verbal sparring. Did he really dump all his talent points into magic when he crossed into this world?
"Zeref? What era are you living in? Still hung up on Zeref?" Kira didn't hold back his mockery, pulling out a pistol-shaped magic tool from his coat. "These days, it's all about guns. Guns, got it?"
His attitude was downright cocky.
If Jellal didn't already know Kira was a force to be reckoned with, he'd have thought this was some clueless punk waving a toy around like he owned the place.
The pistol's design was unique—not a single color, but a red-and-white checkered pattern with black English letters scrawled across it.
What kind of gun is that? Seriously?
Jellal stared at Kira, baffled. "You know Siegrain's one of the Ten Wizard Saints. You really think a little gun's gonna beat me?"
"Heh, wanna find out?"
Without even glancing, Kira fired three shots, kicking off the fight.
The three bullets, free of any recoil, shot toward Jellal at a speed barely visible to the naked eye.
Not exactly physics, but definitely magic!
An ordinary person wouldn't stand a chance at dodging, but Jellal's reflexes were razor-sharp. To him, the bullets moved no faster than a swinging sword—child's play to evade.
His dynamic vision was so good he not only dodged but even got a clear look at the bullets. They were like small glass marbles, red-and-white checkered, with letters written on them.
"What, a kid's toy?" Jellal scoffed.
"Yep, exactly," Kira admitted casually. "It's meant for the kids at the orphanage to learn their letters. I just swapped out the bullets."
A toy for teaching kids letters? With different bullets?
Jellal was livid, feeling like Kira was mocking him by fighting with a toy gun.
"You…" Jellal started to snap, but then something felt off.
The three bullets that hit the wall behind him triggered different effects. One left a puddle of highly corrosive acid. Another aged the wall into crumbling limestone. The last one pierced straight through, leaving only a small hole as it vanished.
"You infused the bullets with Word Magic? Impressive!" Jellal said.
Status-inflicting magic was rare and advanced, something Jellal didn't know but had heard of. He'd also looked into Kira's abilities and knew his Word Magic could imbue objects with status effects, which explained his reaction.
"Nope, not quite!" Kira shot back. "This gun doesn't just add effects to the bullets—it turns Word Magic into the bullets!"
The Word Magic Gun transformed Word Magic into projectiles. When they hit, the magic took effect on the target—an indirect way to cast spells.
Compared to Kira casting Word Magic directly, the gun was faster but less accurate, with slightly weaker effects.
Most importantly, it meant he didn't have to shout his spells anymore! Normally, Kira had to call out the true name of his Word Magic to activate it. To hide this weakness, he'd learned other spells to mix in, making it seem like he sometimes shouted and sometimes didn't.
While the results looked similar, Word Magic, drawing on the power of true names, was far stronger than regular magic. But since Kira had so much magic power, no one had noticed the difference—they just thought he varied the power he put into each spell.
Jellal didn't know any of this. It was his first time fighting Kira, and though Ultear had warned him about Kira's fast casting, he was starting to doubt her intel. He'd have to reassess everything about Kira.
"What a neat magic tool! But with that speed, who's it gonna hit?" Jellal taunted.
"I built this gun, so I can keep tweaking it to make it faster!" Kira grinned, unfazed. "Let's go! You versus me—who's quicker?"
They both went silent for three seconds, then moved at once.
"Meteor!"
Jellal's Heavenly Body Magic, Meteor, boosted his speed to blinding levels. Most wizards couldn't keep up—they'd just stand there and take the hits.
But Kira wasn't most wizards.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A rapid flurry of gunshots rang out, each bullet tracking Jellal's path. They were just a hair too slow, but they were closing in on him.
Corrosion, explosion, rust, aging, penetration, distortion, slowing, binding…
Each bullet carried a Word Magic spell that could end the fight in one hit. Kira wasn't holding back—Jellal was the final boss of this arc, after all. No need to go easy.
Kira knew the gun alone wouldn't take Jellal down. Siegrain wasn't even back from the Magic Council yet, meaning Jellal wasn't at full strength.
If Jellal was this strong, didn't that make him the perfect guinea pig for testing new weapons?
Jellal wasn't some straight-line meteor charging blindly. His movements were fluid, showing no sign of losing control despite his speed.
The bullets are getting faster! I could dodge them easily at first, but now they're grazing my clothes. He wasn't going all out before… so what about now?
Curious, Jellal decided to test Kira by closing in for a melee attack.
Even up close, Jellal's speed didn't falter—truly like a meteor. In a single second, he attacked from multiple angles, as if splitting into several versions of himself to strike Kira from all sides.
Sensing Jellal's intent, Kira groaned inwardly. "Oh, come on! You're wizards, not warriors! Why's everyone so obsessed with close combat?!"
One person, attacking from multiple directions? That's just bullying!
Sighing, Kira had no choice. He raised his empty left hand. "Requip!"
A brief flash of light later, an identical Word Magic Gun appeared in his left hand!
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