"What the hell happened to me?"
The moment Lyon regained consciousness and saw the white, half-mutated state of his body, panic flashed across his face.
He instinctively tried to summon Magic Power to fight it off.
Ultear reacted faster.
She smacked her idiot junior brother across the back of the head.
"Don't use your magic! If you turn into an enemy again, we're not going easy on you next time."
Lyon winced and immediately stopped circulating Magic Power.
Only then did he properly look around.
Ultear had somehow appeared beside him, the cavern floor was covered with unconscious mages, and more of his companions were only just beginning to wake up.
He looked completely lost.
"What happened…? Last thing I remember, Chelia and I were on a job…"
Gray immediately laughed at him.
"Wow. You really forgot everything."
"What did you say, asshole?!"
Lyon's confusion instantly turned into irritation.
Similar scenes played out throughout the mine as Erza and the others explained what had happened to each newly awakened guild member.
Sting's face had swollen almost beyond recognition.
He looked at Natsu with obvious guilt.
"I'm sorry, Natsu-san. I turned into some kind of monster and even attacked you…"
Lucy stared at his battered face.
"You look like that and you're apologizing to him? I'm not sure who owes who an apology here."
Minerva had once undergone demonic transformation herself, so she adjusted surprisingly quickly to the strange appearance of her body.
She walked over to Erza with a slightly embarrassed expression.
"Sorry, Erza. You had to rescue us again."
Erza smiled easily.
"It's fine. We're friends."
Ever since changing her ways, Minerva had become far more emotionally stable.
Her personality had softened as well, turning her into a dependable older-sister figure within Sabertooth.
In a strange way, she was beginning to resemble Sabertooth's version of Erza.
Then again, Erza had always possessed an almost absurd ability to win over other women.
Anyone who spent enough time around her seemed to start unconsciously taking cues from her.
Minerva and Kagura were obvious examples.
"First, wake everyone who's still sleeping," Ankh instructed. "And make sure they know about the Magic Seal. Until we understand this, nobody should try using Magic Power after Whiteout is removed."
Mirajane, who had remained close to Ankh, nodded immediately and began organizing the awakened mages to help the others.
Then—
"Ankh! We have a problem!"
A beautiful figure suddenly stepped through a shimmering water portal beside him.
Selene.
Before entering the mine, Ankh had asked the little dragoness to remain outside and keep watch.
Now her expression was unusually urgent.
"Alta Face has activated!"
"Face?!"
Nearly every mage in the cavern froze.
Six months earlier, the chain of events that ignited the Three-Continent War had begun with the Tartaros incident.
And Tartaros's ultimate objective had been the forbidden weapon capable of erasing Magic Power across the continent—
Face.
Erza immediately understood the implication.
"Elentear has its own Face?"
Selene nodded.
"You saw those enormous 'Hands' when you entered Elentear, didn't you?"
"They're part of Alta Face."
Everyone stared.
"The Face in your world was designed to eliminate Magic Power," Selene continued. "Alta Face is the exact opposite."
"It produces enormous amounts of it."
Her expression darkened.
"And it's the primary reason Elentear is currently being flooded with enough Magic Power to eventually tear the entire world apart."
A collective breath was drawn around the cavern.
Ankh, however, gave Selene a strange look.
"Didn't you tell me before that this was originally your fault?"
Selene stiffened.
"You twisted Elentear's Alta Face because you were planning to destroy the world, right?"
"...Well."
For once, Selene looked slightly embarrassed.
"That was a long time ago~"
Then she immediately straightened and became serious.
"I'm telling the truth. After becoming friends with you, I stopped interfering with Alta Face."
"Under normal circumstances, Elentear should simply have returned to being the naturally magic-rich world it used to be."
Her eyes narrowed.
"It should never have deteriorated this far."
BOOM—!
The mine suddenly shook violently.
The ground beneath everyone's feet heaved hard enough to make several people cry out and struggle for balance.
Far above them, beyond anything they could currently see, the same phenomenon was spreading across the entire world.
Earthquakes tore through Elentear.
Buildings collapsed.
Mountains cracked apart.
Cries of terror echoed through cities and villages.
Across the land, enormous Hands erupted from beneath the earth one after another, while endless amounts of Nail Grime poured from them and began attacking the inhabitants.
At this rate, Elentear wouldn't even need to wait for its excessive Magic Power to destroy it.
The continuously multiplying Nail Grime alone could turn the world into an apocalypse.
Deep underground, Ankh, Jellal, and the others with especially sharp magical senses immediately detected what was happening above.
Mirajane's face filled with worry.
"There are Hands appearing everywhere on the surface…"
Erza turned toward Selene.
"How do we stop Alta Face?"
Selene rested one hand against her chin.
"Alta Face can produce Hands all across Elentear, but they're all connected."
"Deep beneath the world, at the lowest point underground, you should be able to find the true core of Alta Face."
She paused.
"But that's the Alta Face I knew."
"I have no idea what Larcade has done to it."
Erza nodded once.
"Then we start with what we know."
She looked toward the ground.
"We dig straight down."
Lucy immediately brightened and raised Virgo's key.
"Leave that to Virgo!"
"Alta Face cannot be shut down."
A calm voice suddenly echoed through the cavern.
Holy light spread through the underground chamber with such brilliance that it almost resembled divine radiance.
Ankh slowly turned toward the source.
A man had appeared before them.
Short pale-gold hair framed a handsome face whose expression was both solemn and compassionate.
A white cross marked his forehead, religious robes covered most of his body while leaving one shoulder exposed, and a silver cross rested against his back.
Concentric halos of rainbow-colored light spread behind him.
At first glance, he looked almost like a saint descended from heaven.
Standing beside him was Faris, still inhabiting Touka's body.
She wore shrine-maiden robes and kept her head lowered, trembling visibly as she stood beside him.
"Larcade."
Ankh looked entirely unsurprised.
"You really know how to wait until the last possible moment to show yourself."
Then his nose twitched.
His brow furrowed.
"You're a demon?"
Ankh paused.
A second later, realization appeared on his face.
"Oh."
"That makes a lot more sense."
"I was wondering how the hell you could actually be Zeref's son."
Larcade had barely begun his grand entrance before Ankh's first observation nearly cracked his composed expression.
His face stiffened almost imperceptibly.
Then his gentle smile returned.
"I am Father's most perfect creation."
His voice remained serene.
"The demons you are familiar with cannot be compared to me."
As he spoke, Larcade's gaze drifted almost unconsciously toward Natsu.
For only an instant, jealousy flickered through his eyes.
Ankh noticed.
He had already developed several suspicions about Natsu's unusual connection to Zeref, so he didn't bother pressing the matter yet.
Instead, his Magic Power began building inside him like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
"You walked directly into a room full of people like this."
Ankh smiled faintly.
"You really think you can stop all of us?"
Larcade felt the terrifying pressure gathering inside Ankh.
He showed no fear.
Instead, his smile deepened.
"Father once told me that my power exists for one purpose."
"To exploit the one weakness shared by even the strongest beings."
His eyes settled on Ankh.
"And you…"
"…are no exception."