"Oh oh! What luck!"
"To witness the moment the moon is destroyed with my own eyes!"
"We're finally going back to normal!" …
All the villagers looked at Kaien with hopeful faces.
"Destroying the moon… Even if Kaien is super strong in this form, isn't that a bit much…?"
"Yeah! The moon is so far away—there's no way to hit it from here…"
Gray and Lucy were both on edge. If Kaien failed to destroy the moon, they had no idea how they'd clean up the mess.
"This is so exciting!"
"I'm fired up———!!"
Happy and Natsu weren't thinking that far ahead at all.
Kaien finished gathering power and swung his fist straight at the moon in the sky.
—————!!
CRACK CRACK———!
Space itself shattered like a mirror. A terrifying shockwave launched from Kaien's fist and shot toward the moon.
BOOM—————!!
CRACK CRACK———!!
Cracks spread across the surface of the moon.
"WHOOOOAAAAAA!!"
The villagers erupted into cheers as they saw the cracks.
"This can't be happening————!!"
Gray and Lucy were both frozen in shock.
But soon, they realized something was off—the cracks didn't stop. Instead, they began to spread rapidly outward from the moon, covering the entire sky in moments.
"The… the sky is cracking————!!"
Everyone stood dumbfounded at the scene.
Suddenly!!
BANG————!!
The sky shattered, but instead of collapsing, a pristine full moon still hung above, casting its gentle light over the entire island.
Purple crystal fragments drifted down from the sky, glittering under the moonlight with radiant violet hues.
"What the heck is going on?!"
Natsu was completely lost.
Whew.
Kaien dispelled his Take Over form and returned to normal.
"As you just saw—above this island, there was a giant glass-like crystal. If I'm right, it was formed as a byproduct of Lyon and the others collecting moonlight every night. The moonlight passed through that crystal and shone down on the island, which is what turned it purple. Once the crystal was broken, the moonlight returned to normal."
"But… they didn't change back at all..."
The villagers still looked like demons.
"No way..."
Happy thought that maybe the curse couldn't be broken after all, and that the villagers would be stuck like this forever.
Kaien chuckled. "No, they've already returned to normal. This is their real form. The purple moonlight didn't change their appearance—it confused their memories. It made them believe they were human, and that they transformed into demons at night."
Natsu was still stunned, but Lucy suddenly caught on—and her entire body bristled in alarm.
"N-no… No way…"
Lucy had a chilling realization.
Kaien gave her a bright smile. "That's right. They were demons all along."
"WHAAAT————?!!"
Everyone stood there, stunned.
Lucy was so terrified she collapsed onto the ground. A curse, she could handle—but demons?! They were in a demon village this whole time?! That was way too scary.
"R-Really?"
Gray cautiously turned to one of the nearby demon villagers.
"Uhm… y-yeah… it seems so…"
SNAP————!!
Hearing a direct confirmation from the villagers left Natsu and the others with their mouths wide open. So it really was true—they were demons.
"Remember that ruin? At first, we thought it had a barrier. But when we went there, it didn't. That's because the ruin itself was protected by holy light. No creature of darkness can approach it—but humans have no issue."
Lucy turned to Kaien. "So… you figured out they were demons from the start?"
"Of course not! I just noticed that giant crystal in the sky. The rest was deduction."
—Well, actually he'd already seen this part of the plot. Not like he could tell them that.
"That was incredible! Thank you so much, mages. Really, thank you."
Just then, a square-faced demon man walked over.
"B-Bo… Bobo…!"
The village chief was instantly emotional—it was his son, the one they thought had died.
"That's the boatman uncle!"
Natsu, Lucy, and Happy recognized him immediately—he was the one who ferried them to the island.
"Huh? But… weren't you killed?"
The villagers were equally confused.
"You think stabbing me in the chest could kill a demon? Hahaha! Everyone thought they were human—that was the scary part. Once I recovered my memory, I left the island on my own."
"Bobo…"
The chief wept openly as he hugged the boatman.
"Dad! You're finally back to normal!!"
"Bobo, you're alive!"
"That's amazing!!"
"Let's celebrate!!"
"Let's have a feast tonight!! A demon's feast!!"
Even though they were surrounded by demons, the joy of reunion and breaking the curse overwhelmed Lucy and the others, easing all their tension.
Soon, the feast began. The demons danced and sang, and the atmosphere was joyous and vibrant.
At that moment, on the branch of a large tree in the distance, a beautiful woman in white sat with a crystal ball beside her, relaying everything that had happened to somewhere else.
"You saw it all?"
"Yes. I didn't expect Deliora to be truly dead. Such a shame… If we could've acquired Deliora, we would've been one step closer to the ideal."
"I'm sorry, Lord Siegrain. I didn't anticipate that woman's magic to be so strong."
"No need to apologize. I admire your mother greatly. If she were still alive, she'd definitely be one of the Ten Wizard Saints."
"You flatter me. She was just a sad woman obsessed with magic, abandoned by my father."
"But I must say—I didn't expect Kaien to be that strong. No wonder he killed a dragon. That form… it's the first time we've seen it. The power is terrifying."
"Yes."
At the mention of Kaien, Ultear's expression grew serious. She had witnessed with her own eyes how Kaien split mountains and seas. That overwhelming power left her shaken, which is why she fled the moment things started going wrong.
"Luckily, he has a weakness. The stronger the being he uses Take Over on, the more Mana he burns. Otherwise, I have no idea how we'd deal with that monster."
Ultear knew Kaien's profile inside and out. She understood his strength—but also knew that he lacked stamina. If they forced him into multiple drawn-out fights, his Mana would be depleted quickly.
Siegrain gently touched the Ten Wizard Saints insignia hanging from his chest.
"A monster, huh… Let's hope he doesn't get in my way. If he does, I'll have no choice but to eliminate him."