"Um… sir, my performance is already over."
Inside the tavern, Zash was approaching Lucy with a sleazy grin plastered across his face, looking every bit like the kind of man women crossed the street to avoid.
Lucy backed away in visible discomfort, fighting the urge to cry from sheer frustration.
'Why is it that every time I try to use a honey trap, I only attract weirdos…?'
"What future is there in dancing at a place like this?"
Zash kept advancing, his grin growing more disgusting by the second.
"Why don't you become my woman instead?"
A sinister chuckle escaped him, the kind of laugh that practically announced a villain before he even did anything.
Behind him, Rustyrose stared off to the side with a completely indifferent expression.
Kain Hikaru, on the other hand, was every bit as shameless as Zash. He was practically drooling as he stared at Lucy.
Thanks to the veil covering her face—and the fact that many years had passed since the battle on Tenrou Island—neither Rustyrose nor Kain recognized the dancer in front of them as one of their former enemies.
Though in Kain's case, history had apparently decided to repeat itself.
Back on Tenrou Island, Lucy had already caught his disgusting attention once.
Years later, he had somehow managed to become infatuated with her all over again without even realizing she was the same woman.
Zash was worse.
Far worse.
The Black Magic he practiced was among the vilest kinds, requiring the blood of virgins as part of his cultivation.
And because that magic amplified the lust already buried inside him, Zash had spent years preying upon innocent women.
No one knew how many he had already ruined and imprisoned in his private dungeon.
That was why he paid such close attention to beautiful women—especially someone like Lucy, whose awkwardness onstage made her look relatively innocent despite the revealing costume.
Zash had noticed it immediately.
Her movements and expressions were just slightly too stiff for someone who made a living seducing men.
In his mind, that made her perfect.
Which was precisely why he had approached her so quickly.
He wanted to drag her back to his dungeon before anyone else could interfere.
Somehow, despite all the doubts about Lucy handling the honey trap, they had accidentally chosen the one woman who fit Zash's preferences perfectly.
Lucy continued backing away, subtly guiding Zash and his two guards toward a secluded passage behind the tavern.
Then a calm voice came from ahead.
"Sorry, sir."
Ankh stepped out from behind a door, still dressed as a waiter.
"Our dancer isn't available for that kind of service."
With a casual shift of his footing, he blocked the path.
Rustyrose's expression immediately sharpened.
His eyes flicked toward both ends of the passage.
Unfortunately for him, someone was already waiting on each side.
At one end stood another man dressed as a waiter.
Gray.
At the other stood a crimson-haired woman.
Erza.
Only then did Zash and Kain finally realize something was wrong.
Out of caution, Ankh was still wearing the forgettable face of an ordinary stranger, while Gray and Erza had both covered their faces.
That was why Rustyrose and Kain still hadn't recognized the opponents they had once fought years ago.
Zash, however, immediately came to a different conclusion.
His expression darkened.
"People from Fiore…"
He narrowed his eyes.
"You actually think you can drag me away by force inside Stella?"
Years ago, that question might have mattered.
Even if Zash had betrayed Fiore and fled into Stella, the two kingdoms would have spent months arguing diplomatically before anything happened.
And even if Fairy Tail had been sent in secretly, their authority would probably have stopped at recovering Dragon Cry.
Zash himself would have been politically untouchable.
But times had changed.
The Magic Council was no longer run by the same group of elderly officials people liked to mock as a retirement home.
Now it was run by a group of highly motivated… well, still mostly elderly officials.
But motivated ones.
As long as Fairy Tail didn't harm Stella's king or cause unnecessary chaos, they had been given enough authority to simply abduct Zash and take him home.
The Council would handle the diplomatic mess afterward.
And if Stella really was colluding with the Black Magic Cult?
Then Fairy Tail had permission to be considerably less polite.
They could smash straight through the problem if necessary.
And afterward… the Magic Council would still be the one stuck cleaning up.
Gray deliberately lowered his voice and sneered.
"For a piece of trash who murders his own comrades, you sure know a lot about international law."
"Enough talking."
Erza's voice turned cold.
"Take down the two cultists first!"
She and Gray moved at once.
They shot forward from opposite directions, both aiming to seize Zash.
Rustyrose and Kain reacted immediately, intercepting them before either could get through.
"Don't misunderstand."
Zash took a quick step back.
"These two are merely bodyguards I hired. They have absolutely nothing to do with the Black Magic Cult."
Naturally, an experienced political snake like Zash would never openly admit that Rustyrose and Kain were connected to the cult.
And since the attackers were now tied up fighting his guards, Zash didn't waste even a second.
He turned and ran.
He didn't care that civilians screamed in panic.
Zash smashed straight through the wall beside the passage and tried to escape into the street.
Unfortunately for him—
Ankh was faster.
Before Zash could even accelerate, a boot came flying straight toward his face.
"GAH!!"
Ankh's kick caught him cleanly.
Zash flew backward like a ball and crashed right back into the passage he had just tried to escape from.
"You think I'm some helpless nobody?!"
Humiliated by Ankh's casual expression, Zash immediately lost his temper.
"I'm a genius who held high-ranking positions in the military administrations of two kingdoms!"
His eyes suddenly turned blood-red.
Ankh paused.
A matching red gleam appeared in his own eyes.
For an instant, he seemed hypnotized.
This was Zash's most prized Black Magic.
A form of mental domination.
By making eye contact, he could draw out the negative emotions hidden inside someone's heart and use them as a medium to force that person to obey his commands.
In practice, it was similar to Seilah's Macro Curse.
This was also how Zash had abducted so many women over the years—and how he had wiped out Fiore's entire White Tiger unit.
One glance had been enough to make the soldiers turn on one another.
Zash's face lit up.
"Got you, idiot!"
He sprang back to his feet and lunged forward with surprising speed.
His hand curled into a claw aimed directly at Ankh's heart.
Zash was dangerous even without his hypnosis.
His raw Black Magic and hand-to-hand combat abilities were both impressive enough that Natsu, before his recent six months of training, probably would have struggled against him.
His fingers were inches from Ankh's chest when—
Ankh's hand shot out.
He moved later.
And still caught Zash first.
His fingers clamped around Zash's wrist like iron.
Zash's face went pale.
"H-How…?"
"Compared to Seilah's Macro, which practically works without any meaningful restrictions…"
Ankh looked thoroughly unimpressed.
"Your spell has way too many weaknesses."
The terrifying part of Black Magic was its ability to exploit the darkest emotions buried inside the human heart and use those feelings as a foundation for its effects.
But that also created an obvious limitation.
Against someone whose will was extraordinarily strong, someone without the necessary negative impulses—
or simply someone whose Magic Power vastly exceeded the caster's—
the spell became almost useless.
Ankh raised his free hand.
A brilliant red magic circle formed in the air.
"Enchant: Impact."
The surrounding air suddenly gained a violent repulsive force.
BOOM!
The invisible blast smashed into Zash and sent him crashing back to the ground yet again.
He coughed up blood, his entire body aching from the impact.
Then his eyes shifted.
Toward Lucy.
Hatred flashed across his face.
'If I can't control you…'
His bloody lips twisted.
'Then I'll make your companion kill you instead.'