"Alta Face is destroyed?"
Lucy stared around in surprise, but almost immediately sensed that something was wrong.
The magical particles that had once saturated the cavern far beyond normal levels were now disappearing at an incredible rate.
No—
they weren't simply fading.
Something was drawing them away.
Gray's attention locked onto the white-gold heart floating above Alta Face's remains.
It looked almost alive.
Magic Power continued pouring into it as it shone with dazzling light, its crystalline surface translucent like polished glass while faint vein-like structures pulsed beneath it.
For reasons he couldn't explain, simply looking at the thing made a heavy sense of unease settle in Gray's chest.
Alta Face had been designed to continuously flood Elentear with distorted Magic Power until the world itself eventually collapsed.
Under normal circumstances, destroying the core should have produced the opposite reaction.
Elentear had been compressed like a spring pushed far beyond its limit.
Once Alta Face disappeared, the world's accumulated Magic Power should have rushed back toward a single point before gradually redistributing itself, allowing Elentear to slowly return to its original state.
But that wasn't happening.
The white-gold heart born from Alta Face showed no sign of returning the Magic Power it was absorbing.
Despite its small size, it had inherited Alta Face's ability to generate distorted energy while simultaneously devouring the Magic Power of the entire world.
At least according to Gray's senses, every trace of ambient power that entered the heart vanished completely.
Elentear, once drowning in excess Magic Power, was actually beginning to resemble Edolas—a world without magic.
"An Infinite Source…"
Gray suddenly remembered the phrase Alta Face had used earlier.
His heart lurched.
'Larcade planned to sacrifice all of Elentear… just to create an energy core capable of producing Magic Power forever?'
"AAAAARGH!"
A scream of agony erupted beside him.
Gray spun around.
At some point, Natsu had collapsed to the ground and was clutching his head, writhing in unbearable pain.
"Natsu!"
Lucy immediately rushed over and tried to support him.
The instant her fingers touched his skin, she flinched.
"You're burning up!"
Wendy hurriedly began casting Sky Magic over him while Gray stared at Natsu's face, his sense of foreboding becoming stronger by the second.
Natsu's complexion was darkening.
A sinister aura curled around his body.
Gray knew that power far too well.
It was... demonic power.
...
"Fin… finally…"
Higher within Elentear's underground network, Ankh had one hand locked around Larcade's throat.
The man who had appeared so sacred and untouchable earlier now looked utterly miserable.
Larcade had already cycled through all three major aspects of his Desire Magic.
Lust.
Hunger.
Sleep.
Ankh had endured the first through brute force.
When Larcade inflicted unbearable hunger, Ankh simply devoured Magic Power until he felt full.
When overwhelming drowsiness followed, he used pain to keep himself awake.
Once Desire Magic failed, Larcade was left with White Magic that excelled at control but lacked sufficient offensive power.
At best, his overall combat ability was comparable to a strengthened Mard Geer.
Against Ankh, that simply wasn't enough.
"It's done…"
Blood spilled from Larcade's mouth.
His body was torn open, his life force barely detectable, yet a strange smile appeared on his pale face.
"Ha… hahaha…"
His eyes brightened with satisfaction.
"As expected of…"
Ankh frowned.
Then he drove a fist straight through Larcade's chest.
Hot blood sprayed across the ground.
The joy in Larcade's eyes gradually dimmed as his body went limp.
Within moments, he became nothing more than a cold corpse.
Jellal stared down at him.
"He's really dead?"
Something about it felt wrong.
"One of the Spriggan 12 shouldn't have gone down this easily."
Ankh remained silent for a moment.
Then Death Divine Power spread from his hand and completely erased Larcade's remains.
"AAAAARGH—!"
Almost simultaneously, Natsu's roar echoed upward through the mine.
Ankh and Jellal both stiffened.
Then they turned and rushed deeper underground.
BOOM—!
Ankh simply tore open a path with divine power.
Within moments, they reached the chamber where Natsu and the others were trapped.
What they found there was grotesque.
Natsu was floating helplessly in midair, writhing in pain.
A large cavity had opened in his chest.
Blood poured continuously from the wound, forming a thick stream that connected directly to the white-gold heart.
Gray, Lucy, and Wendy were in no better condition.
All three hung in the air as though invisible hands were crushing their throats, while their Magic Power drained from their bodies at a terrifying speed.
"You're asking to die."
Ankh's eyes turned cold.
A weapon formed in his hand.
He became a streak of light.
One slash severed the violent magical connections binding Natsu and the others.
Then Ankh reversed his blade and brought it down mercilessly toward the white-gold heart.
CLANG—!
The impact produced the unmistakable sound of metal striking metal.
Ankh's eyes narrowed.
For the first time, a weapon from the Dragon God's Arsenal had met something it couldn't simply cut through.
Two enormous concentrations of Magic Power collided and exploded outward in crushing waves.
"This Magic Power…"
The sensation was unlike anything Ankh had encountered before.
Then the white-gold heart changed again.
The blood it had absorbed from Natsu began circulating around it.
Under the influence of seemingly endless Magic Power, something started forming around the heart.
Bones.
Muscle.
Skin.
A body.
White-gold radiance outlined each new layer as flesh gradually assembled itself from nothing.
The sight triggered an instinctive disgust in Ankh.
This was life being created through forbidden means.
And with that white-gold heart serving as the core, the sensation reminded him strongly of the infinite Magic Power source he had once sensed within the guild.
It wasn't remotely on the same scale.
But the amount of Magic Power this thing could produce was already sufficient to overwhelm an entire world, and its capacity was just as monstrous.
Even if it belonged to a lower tier—
it could still reasonably be called a form of infinite Magic Power.
"Just as I thought…"
A familiar voice emerged from the newly formed body.
Magic condensed around the naked figure, shaping itself into clothing.
The face that appeared was even more radiant and sacred than before.
His entire body trembled with ecstasy.
"He really was Father's greatest creation."
His smile widened.
"But now…"
"I am."
Ankh immediately recognized him.
"Larcade."
Some time before all of this, Larcade must have implanted his demonic heart inside Alta Face and sealed his power and memories within it.
Once Alta Face finished devouring Elentear's Magic Power, that heart replaced the original core and became an Infinite Source of its own—
absorbing endlessly while returning nothing.
It had accumulated enough power for Larcade to imitate Zeref's methods and construct an entirely new body for himself.
Larcade spread his arms.
White holy light erupted from his transformed body, carrying an overwhelming pressure that made the surrounding air feel heavy with despair.
"A supreme demonic body evolved through infinite Magic Power…"
His laughter shook the chamber.
"Hahahahaha!"
Larcade threw his head back.
"Now…"
"I am the god!"
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