Chapter 230: Zeref
Suddenly, Natsu Dragneel halted in his tracks, his nose twitching as he sensed a shift in the air.
He tilted his head back, looking past the canopy of the massive trees that covered the island. Through a gap in the foliage, he spotted something impossible.
"Happy! Look up there!"
Natsu pointed a finger towards the sky.
Happy, the blue Exceed hovering beside him with his wings spread, followed Natsu's gaze. His jaw dropped slightly. "Aye?"
Hovering high above the main landmass of Tenrou Island was another, smaller island. It was a dense cluster of roots and earth, seemingly defying gravity as it floated silently in the humid air.
"The Master said the First Master's grave is on this island," Natsu said, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "But he didn't say it wasn't on the island above! That floating chunk of rock looks way too suspicious to just be decoration!"
"Aye! It smells like secrets!" Happy agreed, his tail twitching.
"Let's fly up! Maybe the S-Class trial secret is hidden up there!"
"Aye, sir!"
Happy grabbed the back of Natsu's vest with his paws. Straining slightly under the Dragon Slayer's weight, his wings buzzed rapidly, lifting them off the ground and ascending towards the mysterious floating forest above.
Meanwhile, in a different sector of the island's dense jungle.
"Haa... haa... This way! Evergreen!"
"Shut up! Don't you dare order me around!"
Elfman Strauss and Evergreen were sprinting through the underbrush, leaves whipping against their faces. Behind them, the ground shook rhythmically. Thump. Thump. Thump.
"ROOOAAAR!"
A massive beast, resembling a wild boar but easily the size of a small house, was tearing through the trees in pursuit. Its hide was covered in strange, glowing spots, and its tusks looked sharp enough to skewer a dragon.
"How can a man run away from a pig?!" Elfman yelled, looking back over his shoulder with tears of frustration streaming down his manly face. "A man should face his dinner head-on!"
"Shut up! Can't you just be quiet for a bit?!" Evergreen shrieked, clutching her fan. "My magic doesn't work on non-human eyes, and your brute strength isn't enough to flip that thing! Just run!"
The humidity of the island was stifling, and their stamina was draining fast. The uneven terrain, filled with protruding roots and moss-covered rocks, made every step a gamble.
"Squeeeee!" The giant boar accelerated, lowering its head for a charge.
"It's catching up!" Elfman roared.
"I know that, you idiot!"
Suddenly, Evergreen's heel caught on a thick vine hidden beneath the ferns. She stumbled, her balance lost.
"Ah!"
"Watch out!"
Elfman didn't hesitate. Reacting with instinct honed by protecting his sisters, he lunged sideways, tackling Evergreen just as the boar's tusk swept through the air where she had been standing a millisecond ago.
They tumbled down a steep, grassy hillside, rolling over each other in a tangle of limbs and fabric. The world spun in a blur of green and brown until they finally came to a stop at the bottom of a ravine.
"Ugh..."
Evergreen groaned, opening her eyes. She expected to feel the hard ground, but instead, she felt something firm and warm beneath her. She blinked, realizing she was lying directly on top of Elfman's broad chest, held tightly in his muscular arms.
Their faces were inches apart. She could feel his heavy breathing and see the genuine concern in his dark eyes.
For a moment, time seemed to freeze. The roar of the boar had faded in the distance, leaving only the sound of their heartbeats.
Then, reality kicked in.
"Hey! What are you trying to do?!" Evergreen scrambled off him, her face flushing a deep crimson. She dusted off her dress aggressively to hide her embarrassment. "Taking advantage of a lady during a crisis? How vulgar!"
Elfman sat up, scratching the back of his head, looking completely innocent. "I wasn't trying to do anything! A man protects his teammates! I just saw you were about to be attacked and helped out."
Evergreen paused, looking at him. He was covered in dirt and scratches, yet he was smiling that goofy, honest smile.
"Let me tell you," she huffed, crossing her arms and turning her head away, though her blush deepened. "I'm only here to help you become an S-Class Mage and be your partner. So don't have any ulterior motives towards me. I am the Queen of the Fairies, after all."
"What are you talking about? How could I think that?" Elfman stood up, dusting off his pants. "I just don't want my reliable partner to get hurt. We're a team, right?"
Elfman looked at Evergreen directly. His straightforward, unadorned words struck a chord in her chest. Unlike the guys who fawned over her beauty or the ones who feared her stone eyes, Elfman just... cared.
"You... you really are an idiot," she whispered, her tone softer than usual.
Suddenly, a voice, soft and melancholic, drifted through the silent clearing.
"Someone's here...?"
Both mages froze. The atmosphere in the ravine shifted instantly. The birds stopped singing. The wind died down. A heavy, oppressive silence blanketed the area.
"There's actually someone on this island? I thought no one would be here..."
Elfman and Evergreen immediately became vigilant, snapping into combat stances. They looked toward the source of the voice.
Sitting on a fallen log in the shadows of the trees was a young man. He wore high-collared black robes draped with a white toga-like sash. His hair was black, and his eyes... his eyes were profound abysses of sadness, dark and ancient.
"Who are you?!" Elfman demanded, stepping in front of Evergreen. "Only people from our guild can enter and exit here during the trial! This is a restricted area!"
The young man looked up slowly, his expression dazed. "Guild...? Oh, so this island is managed by a guild now?"
"Hey! You!" Elfman took a step forward, intending to grab the intruder. This was Tenrou Island, the Holy Land of Fairy Tail. Unauthorized entry was a grave offense against the guild's honor.
"No! Don't come near me!"
The young man shouted, recoiling as if Elfman were the one carrying a plague. His voice was filled with genuine panic.
"What do you mean?" Elfman stopped, confused by the intense reaction.
The young man stood up shakily, backing away. "Alright, I'll go. Just please... don't come near me. I'll leave this island right away. I didn't know."
Evergreen narrowed her eyes behind her glasses. "What's wrong with this guy? He's acting neurotic."
"Is it alright to just let him go?" Elfman hesitated. "Maybe he's lost? A man shouldn't abandon someone in distress."
"He's clearly unstable, Elfman."
Just then, the young man suddenly clutched his head in both hands, his fingers digging into his scalp. His eyes widened in horror.
"N-no... this isn't good! It's coming... The Predatory Death is coming... Run! Quick!"
"What?"
Before the young man could finish speaking, the air around him warped. A pitch-black aura, darker than the deepest night, erupted from his body. It wasn't just magic power; it was a wave of pure cessation.
The grass beneath his feet turned gray and crumbled to dust. The majestic trees surrounding him withered instantly, their leaves turning black and falling like ash.
The black wave expanded rapidly, rushing towards Elfman and Evergreen like a tsunami of death.
"Run!" Elfman shouted, grabbing Evergreen's hand, but the wave was too fast. It covered the distance in a heartbeat. They couldn't escape.
"Is this... the end?" Evergreen thought, paralyzed by the sheer magnitude of the death energy.
At that critical moment, a figure flickered into existence between them and the black wave.
"Susanoo."
Boom!
An explosion of spiritual energy erupted. Skeletal ribs of fiery orange-red energy materialized from thin air, forming a massive, spectral rib cage that wrapped around the figure and the two Fairy Tail mages.
The black wave of death crashed against the orange ethereal armor.
Hiss...
The death magic corroded the surrounding earth, but the spectral ribs held firm, glowing intensely as they blocked the lethal curse.
"This is..."
Elfman and Evergreen were stunned. They looked up at the back of their savior. He wore a black cloak with red clouds, his hair tied back, and the energy radiating from him was cold and sharp.
"Ren!" Elfman exclaimed.
"It's his transformation magic!" Evergreen gasped, recognizing the form Ren had used to defeat them earlier. "He saved us!"
As the black wave subsided, leaving a circle of barren, dead earth around the protected zone, the two looked around in horror.
"All the trees around us have withered..." Evergreen whispered, her hand covering her mouth. "Everything touched by that black mist just died."
"Is that guy's magic?" Elfman swallowed hard. "That wasn't an attack... it just leaked out of him."
"Looks like he's no small fry," Evergreen said, adjusting her glasses with trembling fingers.
"Of course he's no small fry," Ren said, his voice low and serious. The spectral rib cage of the Susanoo slowly faded, but Ren kept his Sharingan active, the three tomoe spinning slowly in his crimson eyes.
"This guy is a very, very big deal."
Ren stared intently at the young man in black robes. As a transmigrator who knew the plot of Fairy Tail, Ren felt a chill run down his spine. He knew exactly who stood before them.
This was the ultimate ticking time bomb of the series. Zeref Dragneel.
Ren had planned to find Zeref after the S-Class assessment concluded. He wanted to deal with him—or at least contain him—before the situation spiraled out of control. But Zeref's magic power was completely suppressed when he wasn't releasing the Curse, making him impossible to sense. Ren had been searching blindly until the Death Predation wave triggered.
"Ren, do you know this guy?" Elfman asked, sensing Ren's tension.
"Ah! This guy is famous," Ren replied, not taking his eyes off the threat. "Not only do I know him, but every mage who has ever read a history book knows him."
"We know him too? Who is it?" Evergreen asked, confused. She racked her brain but couldn't place the face.
Ren took a deep breath. "He is the legendary Black Wizard, the strongest dark mage in history—Zeref."
"Zeref!!!"
Evergreen and Elfman screamed the name in unison, their voices cracking with disbelief.
"This is impossible!" Evergreen stepped back, her legs feeling like jelly. "Isn't Zeref an ancient figure from 400 years ago? Isn't he supposed to be dead? How can a human live that long?"
"Because he is immortal and ageless," Ren stated calmly. "The Curse of Ankhseram ensures he cannot die, no matter how much he wishes to."
Zeref, who had been panting from the release of his curse, looked up. His eyes met Ren's crimson gaze.
"What a surprise," Zeref said softly, his voice echoing with a hollow sadness. "Someone actually knows me. And you... you are very impressive. To be able to resist the Death Predation. This is the first time I've seen a human who can withstand my curse without dying instantly."
"It really is him!"
Evergreen and Elfman's pupils constricted upon hearing Zeref's confirmation. Their bodies trembled uncontrollably. This wasn't a fairy tale or a bedtime story. The monster who created the Lullaby, Deliora, and the System—the root of all darkness in the magical world—was standing ten meters away from them.
Ren assessed the Black Wizard. In terms of raw magic power, Zeref was in a league of his own. He was the embodiment of death. With Ren's current strength using the Itachi Uchiha card, killing Zeref was impossible. The man was truly immortal.
'I have two solutions,' Ren thought, his mind racing. 'One: The Totsuka Blade. It's a sealing sword equipped to this Susanoo. It could seal him away in a genjutsu world for eternity. Two: Use Kotoamatsukami if I had the Shisui eye, but I don't. The Totsuka Blade is risky; if I miss or if his magic overwhelms the seal, I'm done for.'
After much deliberation, Ren decided against a full-scale death match right now. The risk to Elfman, Evergreen, and the rest of the guild on the island was too high. Provoking Zeref into a rage state would doom them all.
"This is our guild's Holy Land," Ren said, his voice projecting authority. "Please leave immediately."
Zeref looked at them with sorrowful eyes. "Yes... I shouldn't be here. I attract death."
"Okay, I can go..."
Zeref turned to leave, but suddenly, his body seized up again. He clutched his head, screaming in agony.
"N-no... this isn't good... Ugh... It's coming... again!!"
The air grew heavy once more. The black light began to pulse from his skin.
"Again?! Is it that black wave from before?!" Evergreen shrieked.
"That's magic that steals life! Run, Ren!" Elfman shouted.
The dead trees around them cracked and disintegrated further. The Death Predation was about to erupt a second time, stronger than the first.
Ren didn't run. He knew running was useless against an area-of-effect curse of this magnitude.
"If you can't control it, I'll help you fly away from here," Ren muttered.
He raised his right hand. Massive amounts of chakra surged.
"Susanoo!"
BOOOOM!
The orange-red energy exploded outward, but this time it didn't just form a rib cage. It formed a massive, skeletal arm, complete with muscle fiber and armored plating. The giant spectral fist clenched tight.
Ren swung his arm forward.
The giant Susanoo fist mirrored his movement, punching directly towards Zeref with the force of a siege weapon.
Bang!!!
The massive fist slammed into Zeref's small body just as the black wave began to expand.
"Whoa ah ah ah ah!"
Zeref let out a cry as the physical force launched him.
Boom boom boom boom boom boom!!
Zeref's body was sent flying backward like a ragdoll. He crashed through the forest, smashing down tree after tree, carving a path of destruction through the jungle until he disappeared into the distance.
"Eh?!"
Evergreen and Evergreen were both dumbfounded, their jaws hitting the floor.
They stared at the path of destruction, then at Ren, who was calmly dispelling his giant spectral arm.
They hadn't expected Ren to just attack like that. The opponent was the legendary Black Wizard Zeref! And Ren just... punched him away?
"Did... did you just punch the Black Wizard?" Elfman asked weakly.
Ren dusted off his cloak. "He wouldn't leave on his own. I just gave him a little push."
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