Chapter 84: Deliora
Gray didn't say much. He knew Ren was very powerful, that he had even slaughtered Giant Dragons. But he hadn't seen firsthand how strong a Giant Dragon was.
However, he had seen how terrifying Deliora was. He had seen it with his own eyes. He had watched it annihilate his hometown, his family, and his entire life. He wasn't sure if Ren, or anyone, was more formidable than Deliora.
The most crucial thing, the question that was screaming in his mind, was why. Why did those guys bring Deliora here?
"Damn it!" Gray slammed his fist into the stone wall, his knuckles cracking. "I can't figure it out at all! Who moved Deliora here, and why?! Why go through the trouble of moving a demon sealed in unbreakable ice?"
Natsu, ever the man of action, pointed to the dark, ascending stairs not far away that led upwards. "That's simple. We just need to go after that group of weirdos from earlier."
As long as they caught those people, they could force them to reveal their reasons for doing this.
"No," Gray said, his voice suddenly cold and firm. "We wait here. We wait until the moon comes out!"
Natsu was stunned when he heard this. "Wait?! The moon... it's still daytime! No, no, I'll die of boredom!! Besides, Ren gave us until nightfall to complete the mission. If we haven't finished by then, we'll never complete it!"
"Use your head for once, Natsu!" Gray snapped, his nerves raw. "Both the island's curse and this," he gestured to the ice, "are related to the moon. The villagers said there would be a beam of purple light here at night, and that group of people also mentioned they would soon 'collect the Moon Drip'. This must be the key location. This is the source of the curse. Once it's night, we'll clearly understand the cause of all this."
As Gray spoke, he looked over his shoulder at Ren, as if seeking his opinion or validation.
Ren, who was already sitting cross-legged on a fallen pillar, simply spread his hands. "I already said, I'm leaving this matter for you all to decide. It's your S-Class test, not mine."
Lucy, who had been nervously watching Gray, heard his analysis and nodded in agreement. "That's right, Natsu. Gray has a point. I'm also very curious about what's happening and what those guys are planning to do. Rushing in blind is what you do."
"Then it's decided. We wait," Gray said.
Natsu retorted, "No!! I'm going to chase them!!"
"Two to one, the opposition is invalid," Gray stated.
"There's also Happy!" Natsu said, looking to his partner for support.
Happy, who had been hiding behind Lucy's legs, flew up and landed next to her, awkwardly raising his little paw. "I agree with Lucy, too! Waiting sounds safer!"
"Traitor cat!!" Natsu yelled. He hadn't expected his companion, whom he had raised since childhood, to betray him. But since things had come to this, he could only huff and sit down, his arms crossed.
"Fine! We'll wait!"
With the decision made, an uneasy silence fell over the cavern, broken only by the faint, magical hum of the Iced Shell.
Ren sat cross-legged to the side and began practicing his Sun Breathing, his eyes closed, his breathing long and steady. He had only been practicing Sun Breathing for half a year, and it was only recently that he had barely managed to master Total Concentration: Constant. He still needed to continuously refine it.
Lucy, seeing Ren's calm posture, couldn't help but be curious. The tension of waiting was already getting to her. "Ren, what are you doing?"
"I'm cultivating a breathing technique," he replied, his eyes still closed.
"Breathing technique? Like... for swimming?"
"No. It's a method to enhance physical fitness through breathing."
"Really? Can you teach me?" Lucy asked, her eyes lighting up. If she could get stronger just by breathing, she could definitely do it.
"No! You can't learn it."
"Stingy!"
Happy, who had flown onto Ren's shoulder, explained from the side: "It's true you can't learn it, Lucy. Ren tried to teach everyone in the guild before, but no one could learn it. Not even Erza."
"What if I'm that one-in-a-million talent who can learn it?" Lucy said, puffing her chest out.
Happy quipped, "Sometimes I find, Lucy, you're really shameless."
"What did you say, you stinky cat?!"
Lucy grabbed Happy and began pinching his cheeks. The person and cat played and bickered for a while, their antics helping to cut the oppressive tension in the cavern.
But soon, the lack of sleep from the previous night caught up with them. One by one, Happy, Lucy, and even Natsu, who had been sulking, lay down and fell into a fitful sleep. Only Gray remained awake, his eyes fixed on the mountain of ice, his mind lost in a nightmare.
Time passed silently. The sun set into the sea, night fell, and the moon, that same sickly purple moon, slowly rose from the horizon, its light hidden from the deep cavern.
Rumble!!
A low, grinding sound, like a great stone door moving, echoed through the cavern, startling the sleeping individuals awake.
"Wh-What's that sound?" Lucy yelped, sitting up.
"Is it night already?" Natsu grumbled, rubbing his eyes.
"Look!" Gray shouted, pointing not at the ice, but at the ceiling. "The ceiling!!"
At this moment, everyone looked up at the ceiling and saw that a massive, circular hole had suddenly opened up. A perfect, thick beam of purple light shone directly from the hole, illuminating the entire cavern and striking the Iced Shell that held Deliora.
"Purple light... it's the moonlight!" Lucy gasped. "This must be the purple light pillar the villagers spoke of!"
"Why is the moonlight shining on Deliora?" Gray said, his blood running cold. "This is definitely not a coincidence!"
"Let's go!" Natsu yelled, now fully awake and his curiosity piqued. "We'll find the source of the light."
"Okay!!"
Ren, who had been meditating, slowly opened his eyes at this moment. He glanced at Deliora, his expression unreadable, then he stood up and slowly walked up the stairs. Since he had already accepted the mission, he might as well do it perfectly and make sure these idiots didn't get themselves killed.
Natsu and the others quickly ran up the stairs. When they reached the next floor, they found that the light was shining down from an even higher floor. They went up, floor by floor, their footsteps echoing in the ancient ruins, finally reaching the very top, the open-air roof of the temple.
"What is that?!"
The several of them looked forward and saw a group of mysterious, robed figures chanting unknown incantations, performing some kind of ritual. In the center of their circle, a massive crystal was absorbing the moonlight. The light in the sky was being continuously drawn down by the ritual, forming the purple light pillar, which then passed through the layers of ruin floors to shine onto Deliora at the very bottom.
"What are they trying to do by shining the light on Deliora?" Lucy guessed in a horrified whisper. "Are they planning to resurrect the demon underground?"
"Impossible! Iced Shell cannot be melted!" Gray immediately denied it, his voice shaking. He had asked the Guild Master, Makarov, about it. Iced Shell could not be melted.
"Then what are they doing? Just... giving it a tan?" Lucy whispered back.
"Wait! Someone's coming."
The several of them crouched down behind a crumbling wall and saw the three people who had appeared during the day—Yuka, Toby, and Sherry—walking towards the ritual. In addition to the three from the daytime, there was also a man wearing a horned helmet, radiating a cold, powerful magic.
"Damn it," Yuka muttered. "I didn't sleep during the day, and now I'm so sleepy. And we still haven't found those intruders."
Yuka and the two others had searched all day, going through the ruins and the surrounding area, but they hadn't found Natsu's group.
"Are there really intruders?!" Toby asked, his voice a low growl.
Sherry said to the man wearing the horned helmet, her voice full of sorrow, "This is a sad thing, Lord Reitei. We found intruders during the day, but they seem to have escaped. I... I cannot show my love."
"Intruders, huh..." the man in the helmet, Reitei, mused.
"Lord Reitei!"
A short, masked man, who had been part of the chanting circle, greeted him.
"Zalty, you've shown up too!" Yuka said.
"After all," Zalty's high-pitched, strange voice replied, "I'm here to witness this historic moment. I still don't want to miss it."
"Hmph! How are the preparations for Deliora's resurrection coming along?" Reitei asked.
This Zalty fellow was mysterious. Three years ago, he had approached Reitei and told him that Deliora, his master, could be resurrected with the Moon Drip. Although Reitei didn't know what the masked man wanted, it was good if Deliora could be resurrected.
Zalty replied, "At this rate, Deliora will be fully resurrected either today or tomorrow."
"It'll be soon!" Reitei said, his voice filled with anticipation. "Although I don't particularly like bloodshed, at such a crucial moment, I don't want any intruders to cause trouble here. There should be no one on this island except for that useless village on the edge. Go. Go and destroy that village for me." Reitei issued the command to his three subordinates.
"Yes!!"
Sherry, Yuka, and Toby received the order and immediately took action.
"What?"
"It has nothing to do with the villagers!"
Natsu and Lucy immediately became anxious when they heard this.
But it was Gray's expression that changed the most. He was no longer afraid. His face was a mask of cold, hard fury.
"That voice... Reitei... no... it can't be."
He knew that voice. It was older, deeper, but it was his.
"I can't hide anymore!!"
"The intruders you're looking for are right here!!"
Natsu, his patience gone, finally couldn't hold back. He jumped out from behind the wall, shouting. At the same time, he spewed a dazzling, roaring flame into the night sky, drawing everyone's attention to their location.
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