Chapter 30: Get Up and Play It!
All the guild masters tensed when they heard Erza's words. They hadn't expected someone would dare attempt such a thing right under their noses.
"Oh my! Maki, it seems I owe you one this time!" A rotund, bald man wearing a tight purple tank top struck a pose—his heavy makeup completing the flamboyant look.
When Lucy saw this display, she felt goosebumps rising. "Who is that?!"
Erza explained, "That's Bob, the Guild Master of Blue Pegasus."
"Blue Pegasus? The super famous guild? And that's their master?!" Lucy read Sorcerer Weekly religiously. Blue Pegasus had an incredible reputation, mainly because their guild was packed with gorgeous mages and beautiful women.
"Oh! Little Erza has blossomed into such a beauty! And isn't this little Dino? You're getting more handsome every day! If you ever want to join my guild, I can introduce you to the loveliest ladies we have~"
Makarov's eyebrow twitched. "Hey! You're poaching right in front of me, the master of Fairy Tail!"
"Well! Just a little joke! I'll do it secretly next time." Bob winked playfully. Though Dino knew President Bob adopted this flamboyant persona to be the nurturing "mother" figure of his guild, it still made him uncomfortable every time.
"What? That's Dino Maxim?"
"I didn't expect him to be so young."
"A rising star indeed!"
The various guild masters turned their attention to Dino, murmuring amongst themselves.
Lucy asked Erza curiously, "Wait, is Dino really that famous?"
Erza nodded. "Dino's quite well-known among the guild masters. After all, he was the first person to destroy half the Magic Council building."
At that moment, Makarov sidled up to Dino and whispered, "Hey! Brat! Don't you dare admit anything about that earthquake." After hearing Erza's explanation and seeing Dino here, there was no way that massive earthquake that just hit Clover Canyon wasn't connected to him. Makarov would bet his mustache on it.
Dino put on his most innocent expression. "President! What are you talking about?! I just got here! You can't pin every earthquake on me. Even if you're the guild master, you can't slander my good name like this."
Makarov grinned with satisfaction. "Very good! Brat! That shameless act reminds me of myself in my prime."
Suddenly, Natsu crashed to the ground from mid-air. Erigor the Reaper excelled at wind magic, giving him a massive advantage in aerial combat. Natsu relied on Happy to fly, and after going all-out chasing his opponent, both he and Happy had burned through most of their magic power.
"Dammit! Get down here and fight me like a mage! Come on!" Natsu shouted at Erigor, flames sparking from his fists.
Erigor laughed mockingly. "Hahahaha! Why would I fight you?! I'm just waiting for everyone to gather in one place! Once this 'Lullaby' plays, everyone here will be cursed to death!"
"What?!" Shock rippled through the gathered guild masters.
"You have no right to do this!"
"Rights? Rights?! You dare speak of rights?! You've stripped our guilds of everything with just a few words from your Council! You left us with nothing! Rights are no longer what I seek. What I want is power—the power to judge this corrupt world! All sins will face my judgment! All wickedness will be punished by my hand! I will create a world of darkness! And it begins with your lives, you masters of the legal guilds! The gateway to that dark world opens here! Tremble before—"
CRACK!
The air itself shattered like glass, spiderweb fractures spreading across empty space.
A pale white shockwave slammed into the monologuing Erigor.
"GYAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" Erigor's scream echoed as he was launched skyward like a rocket. Moments later, gravity reasserted itself and he plummeted back to earth, crashing in a broken, bloody heap—barely clinging to consciousness.
"…"
Dead silence fell over the canyon. Everyone's brains seemed to have stalled out.
Then they saw Dino nudging the half-dead Erigor with his boot, looking annoyed. "Are you gonna play it or not?! I've been standing here forever and you're still monologuing! You wasted all that time on a villain speech! Don't you know bad guys die because they talk too much?! Get up! Play the damn flute already!"
Every guild master and Lucy stared, jaws slack.
"Maki~? Is little Dino always this… aggressive~?" Blue Pegasus's Master Bob asked with a sweatdrop.
"Uh… young people can be hot-blooded, you know!" Even Makarov was sweating. He hadn't realized Dino was this violent outside the guild. He was always so easygoing back home!
Suddenly, an ominous voice echoed through the canyon. "If you want to hear it that badly… then let me play for you!"
"What?!"
Sickly green smoke poured from the skull-shaped flute, coalescing into a massive, nightmarish demon over twenty meters tall.
"A monster!!!"
"AHHHHH! This is bad!"
The Master of the Quatro Cerberus guild turned pale. "That's… that's a demon from the Books of Zeref!"
"I'm starving! Let me feast on your souls!" the demon roared, purple energy crackling around its grotesque form.
"Wait, are souls tasty?!" Natsu looked at Lucy with genuine curiosity, drool forming at the corner of his mouth.
Lucy's eye twitched as she bonked him on the head. "How should I know?! And stop drooling while looking at me!"
Erza stepped forward, hand on her sword. "What's happening? Why is there a demon inside the flute?!"
One of the masters explained grimly, "That monster is the Lullaby—it's Living Magic, created by Zeref himself."
"The Dark Mage Zeref… the most feared black wizard in magical history. I never thought a relic from hundreds of years ago would surface now."
The demon's eyes swept over the crowd playfully. "Now then… which one of you should I eat first?"
Dino's flat voice cut through the tension: "Quit stalling and play your stupid song already. If you waste any more time, I'm just gonna smash you."