As Ryoma's thoughts settled, a fierce conflict had already erupted high up in the ruins.
Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!
Accompanied by a roar, Natsu's flame-wreathed fist, like a cannonball, smashed fiercely towards the man wearing a strange mask who stood at the very front.
The roar of exploding flames and magic echoed through the empty ruins, kicking up large clouds of dust.
"What an impatient guy."
Ryoma crouched in the shadows in the distance, like the most professional spectator, watching the opening act of this good show with great interest.
He had no intention of going up to help.
On one hand, this was Gray's fated battle, a hurdle he had to overcome himself. On the other hand, with Natsu, that battle maniac, these small fries posed no threat at all.
Sure enough, as the dust cleared, the man known as Sub-Zero Emperor—Lyon—simply raised one hand nonchalantly, and a crystal-clear ice wall instantly formed in front of him, perfectly blocking Natsu's attack. There wasn't a single crack on the ice wall.
"Ice Make?" Natsu paused, then grinned, his fighting spirit even higher. "Interesting, another guy who uses ice."
However, Gray's reaction was completely different.
When he saw the opponent's single-handed, instant-forming Ice Make Magic, without any preparatory movements, his body stiffened. That casting posture, that familiar yet strange magic fluctuation, instantly broke through the barrier of his memory.
"This magic... this method..." Gray's voice was dry and trembling.
He stared intently at the white-haired youth, and finally, he tremblingly uttered the name he had almost forgotten.
"Lyon..."
Hearing this, the white-haired youth slowly lowered his hand.
His subordinates beside him wanted to step forward but were stopped by his wave of a hand.
He raised his hand and took off the mask on his face, revealing a handsome but cold face. His eyes held a hint of arrogance and disdain as he swept over Gray, as if looking at an old acquaintance not worth mentioning.
"Gray... I didn't expect to see you here. You're still the same, no progress at all." Lyon's voice, like him, was as cold as ice.
"Lyon!"
Gray's fists clenched, cracking, as anger and confusion churned in his chest.
"Do you even know what you're doing, you brat?"
"Deliora... what have you done to it? The moon drip... are you trying to break its seal?!"
"Break the seal?"
Lyon seemed to have heard the biggest joke, a mocking arc curving at the corner of his lips.
"No, you're wrong, Gray. I'm not going to break the seal, I'm going to resurrect it."
"Resurrect?" Gray was stunned.
"Are you crazy?! That's Deliora! It's Master... it's the demon Ur sealed with her life."
"Shut up!"
At the mention of the name "Ur," Lyon's face instantly became ferocious. The cold arrogance in his eyes was replaced by fervent obsession.
"Don't mention that woman's name in front of me! It was her! She took everything from me! She ruined my chance to surpass her!"
Lyon's emotions became agitated, and the surrounding air seemed to drop several degrees.
"Everything I've done is to achieve my unfulfilled goal! I will defeat Deliora with my own hands! I will surpass that woman and prove to her that I am the strongest! I am the disciple who should inherit her will the most!"
Listening to this distorted rhetoric, Gray was stunned. He couldn't understand why the senior he once deeply respected had turned into this.
Lyon sneered, his eyes filled only with endless coldness, "More words are useless, so let's have a long-overdue duel."
Before he finished speaking, Lyon waved his hand forward.
Ice Make: Eagle!
Ice eagles, flapping their wings, charged towards Gray with sharp, cold winds.
"This guy..."
Ryoma shook his head in the distance.
"He's been blinded by obsession. And he blames everything on Gray. Truly pathetic and ridiculous."
Ryoma's gaze swept across the battlefield.
Natsu was already entangled in battle with Yuka, who used Sound Magic, and Toby, who only cried.
Although the opponent's magic was somewhat strange, in the face of Natsu's absolute power, defeat was only a matter of time.
Meanwhile, the battle between Gray and Lyon was a completely different scene.
As fellow disciples of Ur, they both used Ice Make, but their styles were distinctly different.
Gray's magic involved clasping his hands together, a static form of Ice Make Magic. Lyon, on the other hand, cast with a single hand, a dynamic form of Ice Make Magic.
The battle continued.
Gray was clearly no match for Lyon, being forced to retreat step by step. Every one of his defenses was shattered by Lyon's swifter attacks.
Gray roared, clasping his hands together again, "Ice Make: Battle Axe!"
A giant ice battle axe formed and chopped fiercely towards Lyon.
Lyon merely sneered, waving a single hand.
Ice Make: Ape!
Several ice apes appeared out of thin air, leaping agilely, easily smashing the ice axe to pieces.
While the main battlefield was raging, on the other side, a pink-haired girl quietly circled to the flank. She targeted Lucy and Happy, who were watching from the side, appearing to be the least threatening.
Controlling the mouse named Angelica beside her, she prepared to launch a sneak attack.
"Go, Angelica! Let this blonde girl taste some power!"
Angelica let out a shriek, transforming into a shadow, and pounced like lightning towards the unsuspecting Lucy.
"Lucy, watch out!" Happy was the first to notice the danger and cried out in alarm.
Lucy turned her head at the sound, only to see a black shadow rapidly growing in her pupils. She didn't even have time to summon a Celestial Spirit, her mind blank.
Just at this critical moment—
Whoosh!
An imperceptible whooshing sound rang out.
An ice pick, thinner than an embroidery needle, shot out like a ghost from the shadows of the battlefield. It carried no magical fluctuations, moving so fast it seemed to merge with the air.
Puff!
The ice pick accurately struck Angelica, who was pouncing in mid-air.
The huge mouse suddenly stiffened, falling straight down from mid-air, landing right at Lucy's feet. It twitched twice, then stopped moving.
"Eh?"
Lucy was stunned, looking at the mouse that had suddenly fallen at her feet, her face full of question marks.
"Wh... what happened?"
"It... it seems to have fallen by itself?" Happy was also bewildered.
Sherry, whose sneak attack had failed, was equally dumbfounded. "Angelica? What's wrong with you?!"
No one saw the tiny ice pick.
"Phew... that was close." Lucy patted her chest, still shaken. "What good luck."
In the shadows in the distance, Ryoma slowly retracted his finger, a faint wisp of cold air dissipating from his fingertip without a trace.
"Honestly... Can't even watch over a support, I have to help out."
He pouted. "But this is good too. Good luck is easier to explain than a mysterious person intervening."
His gaze inadvertently swept towards the taciturn man next to Lyon, his face wrapped in bandages, named Zalty.
That man was Ur's daughter, Ultear.
At the moment the ice pick shot out, Ryoma keenly felt a very subtle pause in Ultear's body. Her gaze seemed to glance in his direction, as if inadvertently.
"Was I detected? No, probably not."
Ryoma's mind was as still as water. "My aura and magic were suppressed to the extreme, and that strike left almost no magical residue. At most, she sensed a slight anomaly, but she definitely couldn't pinpoint the source."
Ryoma's objective was not just to save Lucy. He wanted to use this method to create a small problem for the biggest variable in this game—Ultear.
A hidden third party, whose allegiance was unknown.
This would introduce a hint of uncertainty into Ultear's plan, forcing her to reveal more of her hand.
Indeed, after a brief moment of confusion, Ultear quickly reverted to her calm, unperturbed demeanor, as if nothing had happened.
But Ryoma knew that the seed of suspicion had been planted.
"Act, keep acting."
A barely noticeable arc curved on Ryoma's lips. "Let me see how well you, one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory from Grimoire Heart, can act."