Seven days—for seven whole days, Riyao hadn't had a single thing go his way.
Drinking water would get stuck in his teeth, eating would cause a choke that sent rice grains flying out of his nostrils, and his pinky toe would always find the corner of a table with surgical precision, making him grimace in pain. At this moment, he stared blankly at the ceiling with hollow eyes, unable to fathom which deity he had offended to be cursed with such absurd misfortune. Fortunately, he was a Healing Mage; he could heal himself the second after getting injured, preventing him from being completely mangled.
Just then, a burst of playful laughter rang out abruptly.
[Hahahaha!]
Riyao bolted upright in bed, warily scanning his surroundings, but he couldn't detect a single soul.
"Crap, is it haunted? First Master, is that you? Cut it out, okay? I'm easily spooked, and I'm the most well-behaved junior in the guild," he spoke tentatively, his voice full of trepidation.
The surroundings remained dead silent, without any response.
Riyao hurriedly threw on some clothes and walked out of his room, his heart pounding. He observed his surroundings cautiously along the way and found that nothing else had gone wrong. He breathed a sigh of relief, wanting only to rush to the guild and ask the old man what was going on.
He rushed all the way to the guild entrance. On a whim, he charged up a Leo Flying Kick and slammed the guild doors open, lunging inside to strike a standard, cool Spider-Man landing pose.
Bang!
Gray was struck by the door. He crouched down, clutching his head and crying out in pain, "Wuhu!"
Nearby, Levy trembled from the sudden loud noise, nearly dropping what she was holding. In his frantic attempt to dodge, Gray accidentally knocked over the strawberry cake in front of Erza, splashing cream all over the table. Erza's expression darkened instantly, and the atmospheric pressure around her plummeted, clearly signaling: I am unhappy, very unhappy.
Gildarts, who had been helping Cana practice Card Magic, was also abruptly interrupted by the loud bang.
Makarov looked helplessly at Riyao, who was still striking a pose, but ultimately didn't dare raise a hand to hit him. The kid had been plagued by bad luck for days; it was eerie. He feared that a single slap might trigger even greater trouble.
Riyao performed a sliding kneel, tightly hugging Makarov's short legs while wailing with a sob in his voice, "Old man, the house is haunted! I was in my room just now when I suddenly heard a creepy laugh!"
Makarov raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Haunted? Your bad luck has peaked, and now you're seeing ghosts? That's about as rare as seeing a fairy."
Gray finally recovered and flew into a rage on the spot. "You bastard Riyao, drop dead!"
Just as he was about to use Ice-Make to teach the other a lesson, Erza's hand lightly pressed down on his shoulder. A bone-chilling killing intent instantly swept through the air. Gray froze on the spot, stammering his defense, "Th-this isn't my fault... It—it's all that b-bastard Riyao's doing..."
Gildarts strolled over to the bar and said cheerfully, "What kind of sound did you hear? Describe it in detail."
Cana followed him over, her eyes suddenly lighting up as she made a startling discovery. "Come to think of it, Riyao hasn't had any bad luck since he left the house."
Riyao paused, instinctively patting himself down and reflecting on his journey. An expression of disbelief gradually appeared on his face. "You're right... Since I left the house, I wasn't chased by stray dogs, no one splashed water on me, and nothing fell from the sky to hit me..."
Cana gave a confident thumbs up. "Want a fortune reading? Before, I kept drawing the Tower and the Wheel of Fortune reversed. Maybe your luck has completely changed today."
Gildarts and Makarov exchanged a glance and nodded in agreement. Makarov's hand, hidden behind his back, clenched slightly. He was just waiting for confirmation that the kid's bad luck had completely dissipated before immediately sending this troublemaker flying.
Under Cana's guidance, Riyao finished the divination. The guild members gathered around, many with a fire of irritation in their eyes. Riyao's streak of bad luck over the past few days had dragged everyone else into trouble, and they had long wanted to give him a good lesson.
Cana flipped through her cards, pondered for a moment, and then decisively shouted, "Beat him up!"
No sooner had she spoken than everyone swarmed forward, surrounding and intercepting Riyao.
Realizing his bad luck had vanished, Riyao no longer held back. He immediately activated his Hundred Battles magic to tank the attacks, shouting indignantly while dodging, "You bastards! To gang up on someone as handsome as me—you're clearly just jealous!"
"Riyao, you jerk! I'm getting revenge for the door hitting my head!" Gray clasped his hands together, and Ice-Make magic instantly condensed.
"Senior Riyao, you will pay with your life for my thirteen innocent strawberry cakes!" Erza picked up a wooden training sword, her eyes cold.
"Give me back my premium tobacco! That was a collection I'd hidden for a long time!" Wakaba opened his mouth and exhaled clouds of smoke.
"You? Handsome? You've got some thick skin!" Macao ignited purple flames at his fingertips.
"And my dorayaki! Give me back my dorayaki!" A round blue figure dug into its pocket resentfully.
No one noticed that behind Riyao, Makarov quietly reached out, condensed a bit of magic, and cleanly slapped him into the center of the crowd.
Riyao was instantly pinned down by the crowd, unable to move.
"Whoa, wait, wait! Don't—don't hit me there! Even if I can heal myself, it still hurts!"
"Also... who sneak-attacked me just now! That's too despicable!"
Makarov held his wine glass, sipping with an air of indifference. Catching a glimpse of Riyao being pummeled on the ground out of the corner of his eye, he chatted cheerfully with Gildarts, "This kid's bad luck has finally ended. It's about time he learned a lesson."
Riyao grabbed Gray to use as a shield, so Gray and Riyao were beaten together. Riyao thoughtfully used Healing Magic to treat Gray.
"Bastard, let me go! It hurts, it hurts!"
"Good brother, don't leave! How can I live without you?"
Riyao remembered something and shouted, "If you keep hitting me, don't blame me for what happens next!"
A Mage with dark circles under his eyes jumped up and stomped joyfully, saying, "Old Wang—ah, I mean, Old Ri—don't blame me, I'm heartbroken too."
Riyao activated his Healing Magic and grinned. "Shinra Tensei... Healing Magic: Life Link - Revised!"
Emerald green chains shot out, striking everyone present. Finding that there seemed to be no effect, the crowd continued to beat Gray and Riyao.
The next second, everyone felt like they were being beaten, and Gray took double damage.
In an instant, everyone in the guild was rolling on the floor, their wails rising one after another. Even Makarov, holding his wine glass, and Gildarts, who was watching the show, couldn't escape. The effect of the chains spread, and the two were caught off guard by the backlash, their bodies going numb. Their wine glasses shattered on the floor as they too curled up in pain.
Gray lay on the ground, tears nearly welling up from the pain. He roared at Riyao, "You bastard! Why am I the one taking double damage?!"