"E.N.D.? A demon Igneel once tried to destroy? That's the first I've ever heard of something like that."
Natsu rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought.
"And that Ice Devil Slayer Mage..." Gray murmured, a vague sense of dread beginning to take shape in his chest.
...
The Northern Lands
In the middle of a raging blizzard, a Mage wearing a hooded cloak and a mask walked slowly across the snow.
Around him lay what looked like the remains of buildings, along with crosses and gravestones set up like a place of mourning.
He approached carefully from behind a man who was crouching in front of a grave in silent tribute.
"Lord Silver... headquarters has issued a summons."
"Can't you at least let me visit a grave in peace?"
There was something pleading in the masked Mage's voice as he answered,
"This time... the order was sent to all members of the Nine Demon Gates. So, Lord Silver... please obey the summons and return with me."
The howling wind tugged at Silver's white cloak as he slowly rose to his feet.
"Why are you trembling like that? It's not like I'm going to eat you."
The masked Mage shuddered from head to toe, and it had nothing to do with the cold.
It was because of the man standing before him.
A reputation carved out by slaughtering demons with Devil Slayer Magic.
Silver the Absolute Zero, one of the Nine Demon Gates of Tartaros.
He had short black hair, a clear scar across his forehead, gleaming silver armor, and a face that bore a striking resemblance to Gray's—seven-tenths alike, at least.
Silver planted one hand on his waist and bared his teeth in a grin.
"The only thing I eat... is the souls of demons."
...
On the other side, after helping resolve the crisis in Sun Village, Raizel and the others were rewarded with the villagers' warm hospitality.
And it made sense. Raizel had mentioned Laxus by name, and ever since obtaining the Hellfire Dragon's flames, Laxus had visited Sun Village several times.
On top of that, Laxus apparently knew exactly how to win the giants over—every time he came, he brought an entire cart of fine liquor with him.
"HAHAHAHA—!"
Natsu and Happy sat cross-legged on top of a bald giant's head, laughing along with him.
Several other giants sat nearby, roaring with laughter as well, all of them beaming so hard their eyes had nearly disappeared.
It was a shame, really, that none of them were actual monsters.
"They got close fast..." Lucy said, hands on her hips in amazement.
Raizel let out a small laugh. "That's just how he is. He can get along with anyone, even former enemies."
"To think someone this tiny is the one who saved us," one giant said, lowering his head to look at Gray, who was seated on the ground.
"I'm just glad all of you were able to return to normal," Gray replied with a smile and a nod.
Wendy looked awkward. "Someone this tiny..."
Carla, naturally, drove the knife in a little deeper.
"And among all these tiny people, Wendy is the tiniest."
"Ohohoho~"
Everyone was eating meat slabs bigger than Raizel's face, raising cups with the giants in lively celebration.
Then Erza's voice cut through the warmth of the feast, and the giants gradually fell silent.
"What exactly happened to this village?"
"You want to know what happened?"
"Although all of us took up arms and fought back with everything we had... none of us remember what came after that."
"I see..."
Lucy explained, "According to Atlas Flame, that Devil Slayer Mage mistook him for a demon, so he came here specifically to kill him..."
"So all of this happened because he identified the wrong target?" Erza frowned. "That's far too strange."
She had originally hoped the giants might provide some useful clue, but it turned out that because of the Devil Slayer Magic, they too had lost part of their memories.
Gray shook his head.
"No. At this point, we still don't know what the culprit's real objective was."
Ultear rested her chin in her hand, deep in thought.
"And there's still that half-human, half-demon from Succubus Eye. Why did he show up here? He obviously knew this ice was created by a Devil Slayer Mage. Coming here should've been practically suicidal."
Kagura's expression darkened slightly as she knitted her brows.
"And behind him stands that guild... Tartaros."
Gray voiced his own theory.
"My guess is that the culprit may have been someone from Tartaros, and that the guild beneath it—Succubus Eye—was ordered to guard this village."
Wendy and Carla both seemed to agree with Gray's reasoning.
"So there may have been another reason altogether," Wendy said quietly. "Atlas Flame may simply have been misled by what that Devil Slayer Mage told him."
"Looks like there's more to this than we thought," Carla concluded.
Raizel did not join their discussion.
A little earlier, he had already used telepathy to contact Laxus and inform him that the crisis in Sun Village had been resolved.
As for things like the Dragon King Festival and the Black Dragon... those were not topics he felt should be brought up in front of the villagers of Sun Village.
"Forget it! At least we finished the job!" Natsu shouted excitedly, lifting his cup high.
"Aye, sir!"
"Oh, right! Let me introduce you—we've got a little girl here too! You could practically say she's our daughter!"
'Daughter... daughter...'
Hearing those words, the girl who had been hiding behind a tree, too shy to show herself, slowly peeked out from the side.
She appeared before Raizel and the others.
Urged on by the giants, she finally stepped forward.
Her long wine-red hair was tied into a braid, and a cross-shaped scar marked her left arm.
Her brows were almost always furrowed, and there was something in her gaze that instinctively made people shiver.
And yet her true personality seemed to be shy, even timid.
She kept both hands held in front of her, fidgeting constantly with her fingers, her head lowered as though she hardly dared meet anyone's eyes.
The giants introduced her to the group.
"This is our daughter, Flare. We don't know who her parents were. We raised her ourselves from the time she was little, but because she's different from us..."
At that, the giants all let out a collective sigh.
Flare had always hated herself for being unlike the giants, and there was little they could do about it.
One giant with curly golden hair looked toward Natsu and said,
"You're from a Mage guild, right? I'd like to entrust Flare to you. Take her out and let her see the world beyond this village."
"When Laxus came here before, she was still too young. But now... I think the time has come."
The reason they approached Natsu was simple.
Natsu was one of their kind in spirit—straightforward, warm-blooded, fiercely protective of his own.
"You... don't want me anymore?"
The light that had only just begun to return to Flare's eyes now faded into confusion.
They called her their daughter, yet now they were pushing her away.
The giants all began explaining at once, speaking over one another.
"The outside world is actually full of wonderful things. It wouldn't be fair to keep you in Sun Village forever."
"Once you go with them to a Mage guild, whether you decide to leave for good or come back someday, this place will always be your home."
"So just follow your own heart!"
"Yeah, exactly!"
At last, the golden-haired giant crouched down and looked directly into Flare's eyes, his expression solemn.
"But there's one thing I need to make absolutely clear."
"You will always be our daughter."
By then, Flare was already crying uncontrollably.
She choked on her words, unable to answer, yet a smile spread across her face, and the sharp gloom that had once lingered in her eyes was gone.