The palace was shrouded in darkness and silence.
Every so often, an immense and terrifying surge of Magic Power flickered through the air before vanishing again.
Then, without warning, a pair of black eyes opened.
An eerie light glimmered within them.
"Larcade…"
The black-haired young man let out a quiet sigh.
"So this time, it's you."
The Magic Power surrounding him abruptly became more violent.
"Emperor Zeref!"
The doors suddenly opened.
Invel Yura, the Winter General and secretary to the Emperor of Alvarez, hurried into the chamber.
"Larcade has activated the plan ahead of schedule—"
He stopped.
The moment Invel saw that the Black Emperor had already opened his eyes, his expression changed.
He understood immediately.
There was no need to explain further.
Silence lingered for a long time.
Zeref quietly concealed the trace of anger in his eyes, replacing it with an almost imperceptible helplessness.
When he finally spoke, exhaustion had crept into his voice.
"Recall Jacob and Dimaria from Ishgar."
Invel stared at him.
"R-Recall them?!"
For a moment, he thought he had misheard.
The Alvarez Empire's operations in Ishgar were fundamentally different from those in Guiltina.
Most of their plans there revolved around experiments, infiltration, and quietly manipulating local forces rather than open conquest.
Mard Geer's assignment had been to test the forbidden war magic capable of completely transforming humans into demons.
Jacob Lessio had finally managed to avoid the Magic Council's surveillance and quietly gain influence over most of the mercenary and treasure-hunter guilds scattered throughout Ishgar.
Dimaria had been carrying out a confidential mission personally ordered by Zeref.
Using her divine power, she had been searching Ishgar for ancient magical ruins, collecting lost inheritances and forbidden artifacts to weaken the continent's future generations at their roots.
And Larcade…
Larcade had been entrusted with something even more important.
He had personally remained in another world to conduct an experiment that even Zeref himself had once longed to complete.
Every one of these operations was intended to become groundwork for Alvarez's eventual invasion of Ishgar.
Yet now the Emperor was ordering them abandoned as though they no longer mattered.
Invel didn't dare question him.
Zeref clearly had no intention of explaining either.
"Larcade acted without authorization."
His voice returned to its usual coldness.
"Whether he succeeds or fails is now uncertain."
"The Empire will not interfere."
"Focus on extracting Jacob and Dimaria. If their results can be brought back, bring them."
"If not…"
"Abandon them."
"…Understood."
Invel still couldn't understand the Emperor's reasoning, but an order was an order.
Larcade had indeed violated Alvarez's broader strategy by acting early.
Even so, as the Emperor's son, his loyalty should never have been in question.
And yet Zeref seemed to have discarded him just as easily.
A pity.
The thought of loyalty reminded Invel of something else.
He hesitated before speaking again.
"Your Majesty… Dimaria has become increasingly emotional whenever Fairy Tail is involved."
"And her current operation has already reached its final stage."
Zeref remained silent for several moments.
Then he said,
"Give Dimaria one final assignment."
"She is to act as Larcade's extraction support."
"If Larcade fails and dies, or once everyone who can safely be withdrawn has been recovered, she is to return immediately."
"Understood."
Invel bowed.
He didn't dare disturb Zeref any further and quietly withdrew, closing the doors behind him.
The palace returned to silence.
Zeref stood with a complicated expression and walked toward a table.
From beside it, he lifted an old chest.
Inside were twelve meticulously maintained files.
Each recorded the identity, title, history, and service record of a member of the Spriggan 12, dating all the way back to their earliest years in the Alvarez military.
Fwoosh—
Black flames appeared in Zeref's palm.
He cast them onto the floor.
Then, one by one, he began dropping files into the fire.
Mard Geer.
Brandish.
And Larcade.
Zeref stared at Larcade's and Dimaria's records for a long time.
In the end, only Larcade's was consumed by the black flames.
Dimaria's remained in his hand.
"I thought hiding you in another world might let you escape."
Zeref watched Larcade's file turn to ash.
"But in the end…"
"You still couldn't escape fate."
His gaze shifted toward Dimaria's record.
The Emperor's youthful face remained eerily calm, yet beneath that tranquility lay an unmistakable air of self-destruction.
"And you?"
"Will you escape fate's judgment like Brandish?"
"Or will you become fuel for the coming tide…"
"Like Mard Geer and Larcade?"
Zeref set the remaining file aside.
Then he crossed the chamber and opened a window that had remained shut for a very long time.
Outside stretched a gray, lifeless sky.
Zeref looked upward.
It was difficult to tell whether he was staring at the heavens that imprisoned every living being beneath them—
or searching beyond fate itself for another world entirely.
...
In Elentear, the world's swelling Magic Power showed no sign of slowing.
The entire planet had become like an overheated explosive on the verge of tearing itself apart.
Across the surface, civilians fought desperately against the endless Nail Grime pouring from the earth.
Deep underground, the assembled mages watched the mastermind who had finally appeared before them with equal vigilance.
Larcade wore the compassionate, benevolent expression of a saint.
But beneath that divine façade, his arrogance was impossible to hide.
When he declared that he possessed a way to defeat Ankh, most people merely became wary.
Erza took it personally.
Her sword flashed from its sheath.
"You talk big."
She pointed the blade directly at Larcade.
"We already defeated Mard Geer."
"What makes you think you're any different?!"
Erza swung.
A crimson crescent of sword energy tore through the cavern toward him.
"Blade of Light."
Larcade murmured softly.
One arm transformed into dazzling white radiance.
With a casual sweep, that light sharpened into a blade and met Erza's attack head-on.
The two slashes collided.
Magic exploded violently through the cavern.
Larcade's eyes shifted slightly.
Then the corner of his mouth rose.
"I am nothing like Mard Geer."
His smile became openly arrogant.
"My power can only be resisted by the gods of old."
"And now…"
"No living creature can escape it."
He opened his arms.
"Come."
"Sink into boundless pleasure."
Brilliant white light erupted from his body.
In an instant, it engulfed the entire underground chamber.
The radiance didn't stop there.
It passed straight through the surrounding earth and continued spreading outward toward the surface.
Erza's expression changed.
She immediately retreated, expecting some kind of devastating attack.
The light swept across her skin.
Nothing happened.
No wound appeared.
No pain.
The other mages were equally alarmed by the absurd range of the spell, yet after several tense seconds, none of them seemed injured either.
Sting blinked.
"That's it?"
He scratched his head.
"Was it a dud or something?"
...
Nobody answered.
Sting frowned and slapped Rogue on the shoulder.
"Hey. Why's everyone suddenly so qui—"
"Ahh…"
A strange sound escaped Rogue.
Sting immediately jerked his hand away.
His eyes went wide.
Rogue had collapsed to the ground, his face flushed bright red as a helpless sound slipped from his throat.
And he wasn't the only one.
All around them, Sabertooth's members began dropping one after another as though some invisible chain reaction had suddenly spread through the group.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Within seconds, bodies were scattered across the floor.
Sting and Yukino stared at each other in complete disbelief.
Around them came an increasingly chaotic chorus of strange, breathless sounds.
Both of their mouths slowly fell open.
'What the hell is happening?!'
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator