Riyao let go of Gray and brushed the dust off his hands. He stood triumphantly in the center of the hall with his hands on his hips, scanning the groaning crowd on the floor. He raised his eyebrows and recited loudly, "Feel the pain, contemplate the pain, accept the pain, know the pain..."
"Oh-ho-ho! I told you not to push me. Now you know how powerful I am, don't you?"
"From today on, call me Riyao: The Solo Guild Sweeper."
He strolled happily to the bar, grabbed a glass of juice, and took a long, loud sip through the straw.
Gildarts leaned against the bar and slowly sat back down in his chair. Seeing Riyao's punchable face, he said irritably, "When did you come up with that move, kid? Hitting yourself to hurt others? Only you could think of something so absurd."
Riyao waved his hand dismissively, tilted his chin up, and put on a look of mock sorrow. "These past few days have been too painful. Therefore, I shall let the whole world feel my pain!"
In reality, he had remembered that Grimoire Heart possessed a similar magic and had tried to modify Life Link to achieve the same effect. Looking at the results now, it was incredibly effective.
Riyao stopped playing around and walked over to the request board. He pulled down all the medical requests he had accumulated over the past few days and brought them back to the bar to flip through them.
Makarov, seeing that he was finally getting down to business, waved his hand to signal everyone to stop making a fuss.
The Master rubbed his aching bones and glared at him with a resentful expression. "You brat, you actually modified Life Link into that hellish state. It hurts so much there's no way to even alleviate it."
While flipping through the request forms, Riyao gave a wicked grin and started again, "Feel the pain..."
Before he could finish, Makarov delivered a sharp flick to his forehead.
"Feel my foot! No more of that!"
Riyao clutched his head indignantly. "Old man, be careful or I'll activate Life Link - Modified again! We can share the joy and the suffering together!"
"Bring it on! Who's afraid of who? Back in the day, I was besieged by thousands of people all by myself and didn't even blink an eye!"
"You're bragging. Where would thousands of people come from to surround you? It's not like the Kingdom War from the First Master's era."
Makarov was so angry he was about to strike him again, but Riyao immediately struck a pose as if he were about to activate his magic.
Seeing this, Gray rushed forward and hugged Makarov's short legs. With a sudden tug, the Master lost his balance and fell with a "splat," his face slamming hard onto the bar.
"Master, don't! Let him go, and let us go too!"
When the crowd heard that Life Link might be activated again, a chorus of wails erupted. Gray held onto Makarov's legs even tighter, refusing to let go.
"Gray, you little rascal, let go of me!" Makarov shouted, wobbling as he was pulled, his beard twitching with rage.
Riyao sat to the side, slapping the bar and laughing. "Hahaha, nice work, Gray!"
He suddenly remembered his purpose for today. He stacked the request forms neatly and said with a frown, "By the way, I was interrupted by your fooling around. I just remembered—I came today to ask the Master if he knows what's going on with me."
Hearing that it was serious business, Makarov stopped trying to hit Riyao and said solemnly, "I haven't heard of a situation like yours."
Gildarts piped up from the side, "Oh right, regarding that eerie laughter you mentioned, I might have some idea."
The others gathered around, sensing something interesting. Levy was flipping through her books.
"Stinky Un— Senior Gildarts, have you heard of it?"
"Hmm? You were about to call me'Stinky Uncle,' weren't you?"
"Oh, don't worry about the details. Keep talking."
Gildarts didn't bother arguing about the title anymore. He rubbed his chin, his expression becoming more serious. "It was something I saw recorded in an ancient ruin during a mission once—a legend involving a certain deity."
As his voice trailed off, the noisy guild fell silent instantly. Everyone's eyes were fixed on him.
Gray was the first to break the silence, speaking with a face full of surprise. "A god? Do gods really exist in this world?"
The others immediately began talking at once. Erza frowned and asked seriously, "Could it be... that Riyao's current streak of terrible luck is related to this god?"
Cana crossed her arms and said with conviction, "It must be because Riyao did something wicked and is being punished by a god."
Levy was excitedly scribbling in her notebook, muttering something under her breath.
"I don't know if it's true, but according to the records in the ruins..."
"A... however many years ago it was—forget it, it's not important—anyway, a long, long time ago, there appeared a Mage who could use Prophecy Magic."
"Using his Prophecy Magic, he glimpsed a future where his hometown was about to be destroyed."
"He nipped the danger in the bud ahead of time. Originally, this was supposed to be a joyous occasion."
"But then something eerie happened. When he successfully protected the village through the danger period, he heard a burst of laughter. At the time, he thought it was just the villagers cheering and didn't pay it any mind."
"From then on, he began to suffer constant bad luck. Soon, within a few days, he was attacked by all sorts of mysterious accidents."
"He wanted to know what was going on, so he forced himself to use his Prophecy Magic despite his heavy injuries."
"This time, he only saw one day into the future, because he died."
"That was the end of what the villagers recorded. But there was one last sentence afterward, a personal account from that Prophecy Mage."
"It was written: 'I saw Him. He calls Himself Kainosia, the God who governs the Laws of Fate.'"
"And that's everything."
Gildarts spread his hands, indicating the story was over. While the others were still processing this bizarre legend, Makarov suddenly snapped out of it and slapped the bar. "Seven days ago, this brat Riyao suddenly stared at me and told me to stop laughing for no reason. I wasn't laughing at all back then, and I wondered about it for quite a while!"
Riyao looked up blankly. "Did that happen?"
"Right after you said it, you were hit by a flying mug and face-planted right into your noodle bowl!"
Riyao had a sudden realization, his eyes widening. "Oh, right! That was the exact same laughter! So, that was when the bad luck started. Does this mean it's finally going to end?"
Gray scratched his head and asked with a confused face, "But why didn't Riyao die?"
"Hey, do I have to die? You idiot."
Everyone simultaneously gave him a look as if he were a fool. Erza raised her hand and gave him a karate chop to the head, analyzing calmly, "It must be because Riyao's self-healing ability far exceeds that of a normal person, which is why he managed to survive."
Levy timidly raised her hand and asked softly, "That Prophecy Mage was cursed by a god because he altered the future. So, why did Big Brother Riyao provoke Him?"
Cana tilted her head and thought for a moment, looking at everyone. "Speaking of which, what exactly did Riyao do seven days ago?"
After thinking for two and a half seconds, everyone looked toward Erza's eyes.