Seeing it this way, although this guy was a bit full of himself, he really didn't seem to have any bad intentions.
Of course, he was definitely an extremely unstable factor—a very troublesome one at that.
There was no way Marco could allow someone like that to remain on Tenrou Island.
Faced with such a dangerous element, Marco naturally couldn't tolerate him in the slightest.
No matter what, he had to send this guy away first.
Buzz!
Marco changed into the Aries Gold Cloth, his eyes gleaming as he activated Mind Transmission with all his power.
Mind Transmission was also a type of spatial ability.
It could instantly move large numbers of people or objects from one place to another—a form of spatial transfer, and one manifestation of the powerful psychic abilities innate to the Jamil Clan.
Among the Jamil Clan, even a child like Kiki, so long as they had studied and mastered the technique, could transport an army of tens of thousands.
Using this ability to deal with the current problem couldn't have been more suitable.
Marco only needed to send this troublemaker away.
"Death Predation" stopped, and Zeref returned to normal.
He raised his head and looked at Marco, whose magic power was surging and whose body shone with golden light.
Surprise flickered in Zeref's eyes.
He had never seen the magic Marco was using before—it was a power even he had never seen before!
After all, as an immortal being, as a legendary existence who had lived for centuries and had already existed back when dragons still ruled the world, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Zeref had studied nearly every kind of magic in existence.
And yet now, Marco had used a kind of magic Zeref had never seen before.
It instantly stirred his curiosity, for he had always been deeply passionate about the study of all forms of magic.
So passionate, in fact, that he loathed even himself for it.
He despised the part of himself that felt glad he had more time to study magic simply because he was immortal.
It made him a very contradictory person.
"What is this—"
Zeref began to ask, but before he could finish, a burst of magic erupted around him, and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared.
"What it is has nothing to do with you anymore."
Marco clapped his hands and smiled as he looked at the empty space in front of him.
Truthfully, he was curious about that strange man too.
But Grimoire Heart was about to attack, and right now there really wasn't any time to deal with him.
Once they had beaten Grimoire Heart into the ground, then he could go have a proper chat with that odd fellow.
"That guy... he can't really be some old monster, can he...?"
Marco had formed a few guesses about the man's identity.
He could tell that the man hadn't actually been lying.
But if that person had arrived on Tenrou Island even earlier than Fairy Tail, then he had to be at least close to two hundred years old.
That made no sense.
The guy looked very young, and while mages might live a long time, they still aged all the same.
Just look at one of Fairy Tail's founders, Warrod Sequen.
He was powerful enough, and old enough too, yet he still couldn't escape aging. The same went for Master Makarov and the others.
"How strange."
Marco shook his head.
Since he couldn't make sense of it, he chose not to think about it for now. He had a feeling that guy would definitely come back again.
The expression that man had shown when he saw Marco use Celestial Spirit Magic had been extremely dramatic, as if he had just seen something unbelievably rare.
Though Marco didn't know why, it was obvious that the man was extremely interested in his magic—interested enough that he would definitely come back to investigate further.
...
After dealing with the "mysterious man," Marco vanished, and in the next instant, he appeared in front of Mavis's gravestone.
Buzz!
Mavis suddenly darted out, frowning as she looked at Marco.
Her expression was unusually serious, and her little nose kept twitching as if she were smelling something.
"Mavis? What's wrong? Is something the matter?"
Marco looked at Mavis in confusion as she circled around him like a puppy, sniffing here and there.
But in truth, Marco already had a guess in his heart. He was ninety percent sure it had something to do with that "mysterious man" from just now.
"Marco... why is there a trace of Ankhseram's Curse on you?"
Looking at Marco, Mavis asked in a grave tone.
No one understood the terror of that curse better than she did, which was why she was so tense.
She did not want Marco to be cursed by Ankhseram as well.
Once cursed, he would only be able to live like that person from then on...
"Ankhseram's Curse?"
Marco frowned.
He did know of Ankhseram, but was that curse really the black wave from earlier?
The power to devour all life?
As expected of the legendary god said to govern life and death!
"That's right, it's absolutely Ankhseram's Curse!" Mavis said with certainty.
There was no way she could mistake it, because she had been both its victim and its perpetrator.
One reason she had previously been unwilling to leave this place was because she feared she might still carry the curse.
But after spending time with Marco and Makarov, she had realized that in her ghost-like state, she had probably already escaped it.
"I... met a strange man. The curse was on him."
Marco looked at Mavis and explained what had happened with the "mysterious man."
He paid close attention to Mavis's expression, and the First Master's face changed dramatically, making it clear that she was very familiar with that mysterious person.
"Ze... Zeref..."
With a complicated expression, Mavis softly spoke the man's name.
"?!"
The moment that name reached Marco's ears, his eyes widened instantly.
"Mavis... the Zeref you're talking about... is it the same Zeref I know of?"
Staring at Mavis, Marco sought confirmation.
"Yes... it's that Zeref. There's no mistake."
Mavis fell silent for a moment, but still nodded with difficulty and confirmed it.
"Why is he here?"
After a brief silence, Marco and Mavis asked the same question at the exact same time.
Clearly, both of them were filled with confusion.
Marco ground his teeth, feeling it was almost unbelievable.
Was the year X784 really heading straight into the grand finale?
First Oración Seis, then Grimoire Heart, and now even Zeref had shown up.
Could it be that Tartaros would arrive next? And what about... that black dragon... could it already be on its way too?
At this moment, Marco desperately wished his Future Sight ability would recover faster.
Tenrou Island was far too lively today.
If Future Sight was used to peer too far ahead all at once, it would temporarily become unusable and require some time to recover.
If Marco wanted to use it again now, he would have to wait until after Grimoire Heart landed on the island.
But he didn't rely on that ability anyway—he only treated it as a method of gathering information.
The future could be changed.
Marco did not blindly believe in prophecy.
What Fairy Tail did best was create miracles. They were the hardest to predict, because they represented the unknown.
"Doesn't matter whether you come or why you're here. As long as you dare to come, I'll wipe all of you out in one go!"
Marco clenched his fist, feeling his cosmos begin to burn.
If the enemy wasn't strong enough, it wouldn't even be his turn to step in!