After an hour of exposing Minerva's deepest secrets, Gramps finally finished reading the diary, prompting him to close the book as we all remained silent for a few moments. Her diary didn't just contain the experiences since joining Fairy Tail, but it also gave a glimpse into her past when raised by Jiemma; the brutality and hellish childhood she was forced to experience.
"Man, what. What do we say?" Macao rubbed his face with a complicated expression. "Kill that fucker of a parent?" Levy, not one to use profanities, glanced at Macao, who nodded, along with everyone else, save for Wendy, who seemed to look the other way. "I mean, that's given, but killing him won't change what she's already experienced."
"Heh, it's actually simple." Grinning, Natsu leaped onto the table beside Gramps, causing all eyes to shift to him. "We just have to be the best family for Minerva!" As he'd remarked, his plan was straightforward, but at the same time, none of us disagreed with his simple plan; just because something was plain or straightforward didn't mean it wasn't effective.
"So good that it makes Minerva forget her past." Mira added to Natsu's claim, prompting us all to nod in agreement. "Still, we should kill Jiemma though, right?" Cracking his knuckles, Gajeel faintly smirked, prompting us to all nod once more. "Not just kill, but torture." Matching Gajeel's gaze, Fried looked at him, the two coming to some sort of agreement as they began to discuss various torture methods.
While that was going on, Gramps closed the diary before standing up. "Alright, everyone, let's try to pretend–" Before Gramps could finish speaking, a bright white light emerged from the diary, swiftly enveloping all of us without even giving us time to react.
A few moments passed before the white light faded, allowing for my vision to return as I observed our surroundings, which seemed to be… 'We're still in the guild?' Furrowing my brows, I stood up while setting Cana down before glancing at everyone. "Oi, everyone good?" "Y-Yeah." "All's good here." "Yup, everyone's good."
Receiving several responses, I looked at Gramps, who was closely inspecting the diary. "The hell was that, Gramps?" "I was just about to ask you the same question." As Gramps glanced at me in confusion, I frowned and scratched my head, just as confused as he was, only for faint tremors to be felt throughout the guild.
"Why is the guild shaking?" "Is it an earthquake?" "Maybe?" "Are you sure? The tremors feel oddly rhythmic." "Yeah, now that you mention it, it does have a rhythm." "Almost like footsteps." The moment Vijeeter finished speaking, I widened my eyes before dashing out of the guild; well, I attempted to at least.
Just as I kicked the doors open, I was forced to stab my feet into the ground to stop myself, as surrounding the guild was absolute nothingness. Regaining my footing, I looked around, trying to find something, anything, yet it didn't matter where I looked; it was an endless sea of nothingness in all directions.
"H-Hey, Gramps, I-I think you might want to see this." Hesitantly calling out to Gramps, he and everyone else neared the entrance of the guild, prompting them to all gaze out into the void of nothingness.
"T-The fuck!?" Gramps was even more confused than I was. "D-Did you do something, big bro?" "Do something? All I did was kick the doors!" Glancing at Lucy as if she were stupid for even suggesting such a thing, she awkwardly smiled, causing me to click my tongue before climbing outside.
"I'm going to the roof." "Just be careful." Climbing the side of the guild, I eventually reached the roof, where I was able to see everything, yet even with the increased view, there was still nothing. 'Fuck man; the hell is happening!?' Cursing under my breath, I did another sweep, just to be sure I wasn't missing something.
However, it was good I did so, because I spotted a silhouette far away, though it was too far for me to make out its features. 'I might be mistaken, but is that thing getting closer?' Furrowing my brows, I rubbed my eyes, though before I could stare at it longer, Happy flew towards me. "Big bro, something happened, come quickly!"
As Happy grabbed my hair, pulling me, I clicked my tongue and followed him, returning to the interior of the guild only to see a floating paragraph.
"Is this your doing, Levy?" Glancing at Levy, she rapidly shook her head. "So, what does it say?" As I looked around, hoping for an answer, everyone shook their head. "I don't know, it just suddenly appeared." "Tsk, why not just use the common language? It's really not that hard." Folding my arms, I looked at the floating paragraph, though I might as well have been looking at nothing.
"W-Wait, I think it's ancient texts." Instantly, we all snapped our gaze to Levy, who was grabbing her gale-force-reading glasses from her pockets. "Can you read it?" At Erza's question, Levy nodded. "G-Give me a moment, I'll need to decipher first."
With Levy focusing on deciphering the ancient text, I went ahead and grabbed Happy. "Eh, w-where are you taking me?" "I saw something far away, I need you take me to it."
Climbing back onto the roof of the guild, I pointed at the silhouette, which seemed to have gotten a bit bigger. "Is there something there? I can't see anything." "Yeah, there's something, just fly me in that direction." "Aye, aye, Sir!"
With Happy holding my hand, I used indestructible magic on him as wings sprouted from his back through his area magic, prompting him to speedily soar through the sky. As for how my magic doesn't interrupt Happy's magic, it was a question I had no answer to; my best guess was that he wasn't human.
Anyway, since my magic never affected him as it should, it made this trip possible in the first place.
It took some time, but eventually we got close enough to see the silhouette, and to our shock, it turned out to be a giant, walking statue of a woman. "So, I think we figured out where the tremors were coming from." "W-What is that?" Shaking my head at Happy, I stared at it a bit longer before having him turn around.
"I'm confused, big bro." "Haa, you're not alone." Returning after several minutes, we entered the guild, informing everyone of what we'd witnessed; let's just say, everyone was just as confused as Happy and I.
"I have a bad feeling about that statue." Gramps, frowning, sat atop a table while rubbing his chin, deep in thought. The next couple of minutes were mostly filled with silence, everyone trying to figure out what was happening while letting Levy concentrate, and speaking of her, she finished not long after.
"Ha, I-I got it, guys!" Rising to her feet with an ugly expression, all of us quickly huddled around her. "Given your face, I assume the words won't save us?" Folding her arms, Evergreen glanced at Levy with a raised eyebrow, causing her to force a smile.
"S-Sort of…" Clearing her throat, Levy began to read the paragraph. "... Mortals, for exposing the deep secrets, you've angered I, Angerona, Goddess of silence and secrets. As a benevolent Goddess, I shall give you a chance; each must reveal a secret to survive. Otherwise, you will face nihility. You have three hours."
When Levy finished speaking, the guild descended into silence, unsure of how to react; though that was for everyone else.
"Huh, what a load of bullshit. If you're really a Goddess, why don't you get your ass down here, Angerona? I wouldn't mind earning the title, God slayer!" Grinning, I looked upwards, threatening this so-called Goddess. "Haha, I, Orga, will take your life!" "That's the spirit, Orga!" In a united front, Orga and I stared into the sky, challenging the Goddess Angerona.
However, the response wasn't the one we were hoping for, as a word in the floating paragraph changed. "What was that, Levy?" "W-Wait, a moment, Master… So, um, our time limit has been changed from three hours to 1-15 minutes."
Just as Levy finished speaking, the tremoring, which had been faint and distant, exploded in power, causing the entire guild to shake. Instantly, I headed to the window, looking in the direction where the giant statue had been walking, only now, it was no longer just a silhouette.
The female statue was now incredibly close, so close that we couldn't even see its face. 'D-Didn't realize the statue was so massive.' I'd only seen it from a distance with Happy, and even then, it was massive, but up close, it even dwarfed a mountain.
Backing away from the window, everyone else continued to look outside before mechanically shifting their gaze to me, causing me to awkwardly cough. "W-Well, it seems Angerona is just a coward." "Y-YOU!" "BIG BRO!?"
With Gramps furiously pointing at me with a shaky finger, everyone else shouted in fury while leaping onto me. "W-Wait! W-What about Orga!?" As I gestured to Orga, who was standing off in the distance, everyone stopped and looked at him, though he didn't hesitate to throw me under the bus. "I-I was just following big bro, I'm just a stupid kid." "B-Bastard!"