"At that time, Magnolia was under the control of a Dark Guild. We learned magic in order to liberate the town. In that battle, I used unfinished Dark Magic… and won."
Mavis's voice was calm, but every word weighed heavy.
"The price… was that my body could no longer grow. But I didn't understand it at the time. In April of X686, Fairy Tail was founded."
She looked at everyone with a faint smile.
"Back then, the lords fought fiercely over trade rights. That year, the second trade war broke out, and the guilds were drawn into it as mercenaries. When it ended in X690, the casualties were dozens of times greater than the first war. People blamed the guilds for the bloodshed, and so a treaty was written: no more wars between guilds."
The guild members nodded—this was the very foundation of their world.
"For a time, peace returned… until X696, when I met him again. That was when I realized the truth. My body hadn't just stopped growing. I had become immortal, just like Zeref. I, too, had fallen under the curse of Ankhastram."
"Eh?!" voices rang out in shock.
Mavis continued softly, "I was cursed… and those around me would eventually die. At first, because of the war, I felt numb to death. But when Yuri's child—the Third Master—was born, I finally felt the beauty of life. That was when the curse took hold, and Rita… the child's mother… died."
Gasps echoed through the guild.
"Everyone thought she died from childbirth. But it was me. The curse. So I fled the guild… into the woods, where even the flowers, trees, and animals withered at my presence. The more love I felt, the more the curse stole. That is Ankhastram's curse—the curse of contradiction. Only with no love in your heart does it spare others."
Her voice trembled. "I passed the title of Guild Master to Precht… and I wandered. But countless lives were still lost because of me."
Her eyes darkened. "A year later, Zeref found me on Sirius Island. I had not eaten or drunk for half a year, yet I couldn't die. He told me… to end his own life, he created monsters called Etherious. The Demons of the Book of Zeref."
At this, Gray's fists clenched. Everyone's faces hardened, remembering Tartaros.
"They were only tools. Creations to kill him," Mavis said bitterly. "And he told me he was building a nation on another continent—what you now know as the Alvarez Empire. A country of chess and cards, where he was the emperor and all others were pieces. That way, the curse would not 'respond' to him."
Her tone turned pained. "I knew then his mind was lost in contradictions. We were the same—two exiles cursed by the gods. And so we fell together. The abyss of magic… it was born from love. Love can bring miracles, but also unbearable sorrow. And so… the curse of contradiction took me. The more he loved me, the more it took my life—even though I was supposed to be immortal."
The guild fell silent. Some of the women pressed their hands to their mouths.
"How cruel… how can such a curse exist…"
Mavis's expression grew distant. "Afterwards, Zeref returned my body to Fairy Tail. My heartbeat was gone, but my magic lingered. Precht knew of a crystal buried beneath the guild that could preserve life. He tried everything to bring me back. To hide the truth, he announced my death in X687, and a tomb was built for me on Sirius Island."
Her voice softened. "Precht never stopped. For thirty years, he searched, combining countless theories of life and death, stillness and motion. And finally… from his genius, something new was born."
Mavis's gaze grew hard.
"Eternal magic. The Fairy Heart."
"Eternal magic?"
Murmurs filled the guild.
"It is as the name suggests. Infinite magic. Endless energy."
"What?!!!"
"Magic that never runs out?!"
Mavis nodded. "Think of the Magic Council's weapon—Etherion, the Magic Spirit Cannon. A weapon that could flatten a nation in one shot. With Fairy Heart… Etherion could be fired endlessly."
The hall erupted. Everyone's eyes widened in disbelief.
A weapon that could already erase a country—turned infinite. Fairy Heart was power beyond imagination. Power that could destroy the entire continent of Ishgar.
And Zeref wanted it.