Zack only could only watched with a blank look, when the house sized Spider Monster ended the life of the Dark Wizard.
He has no clue why all these Monsters begin to turned their backs on their master. In fact, he has no clue what just happened moments ago either.
One moment, Zack knew it was the end, but he cannot go down without a fight. That is why, with his mind filled with determination to do anything to get them out of this situation.
He roared with all his might and emotions, with no intentions to let things go, that Dark Wizard wanted it to be.
But what happened next, confuse Zack, as he felt something strange came out of him. He wanted to knew what this surge of power was, that felt both familiar but strange at the same time.
However, Zack is unable to think what it was, when he froze in confusion, looking at all of the Monsters and even this Dark Wizard all remain in place, like they unable to move for some reason.
And when they returned their ability to move, is the moment when everything became more weird.
The Dark Wizard, that were pinning him down, run away in fear, and even ordered his Monsters to attack him. But instead of attacking Zack, they attacked their master.
Not only they defy the orders of their tamer. But even when they looked at Zack, Zack can sense the caution and fear within them.
Zack has no idea, why they sudden became afraid of him. Instead of wondering why, he remained on guard, standing before Gray, that still hasn't woken up from the lands of dreams.
When the Dark Wizard were killed, both the Spider Monsters and Zack locked eyes with each other, before the Assassin Spider went to the corpse of the Dark Wizard, very sneaky at that, causing the Giant Spider to roar or more like hissed in rage, before it took one look towards Zack, a wary look at that.
Before it chases the Assassin Spiders, along with the Hopper Spiders fled in all ways, having no intentions to remain here, with a monster like Zack, a very ironic way to put it.
With a lost look, that has no idea what just happened.
Zack could only stared at the places, where those Monsters were at, with a blank look, before he sighed in relief, seeing they no longer here.
Knowing they no longer here, or having no more intentions to harm him or Gray. Zack felt the strength of his body leaving him, causing Zack to fell on his backside, taking another long breath out of relief.
"What… was that?"
Zack askes himself, even if he knew asking this to himself, will not gave any answer.
He still recalled that strange moment, the surge of power that manifested itself, when he shouted at the strange looking Dark Wizard.
In that moment of willingness to give up, and determination to do anything to survive. He felt something deep inside him… it felt familiar, like Haki.
But it wasn't the Haki he knew, it didn't feel like the colour of Armament nor Observation. It felt different, then Zack realised there is a third colour of Haki he unable to use so far.
"Could it be… Supreme King Haki?" Zack went aloud.
Supreme King Haki, the strongest Haki of the three colours of the Haki Spiritual Arts, and also the trickiest to master and use.
Because Supreme King Haki is the manifestation of the will of Haki. It has the power to supress the wills of others, that are weaker than his own even dominating them.
It also possible to overpower others via his will, making them unable to move, like those five seconds were the reason why the Dark Wizard, and those Monsters were unable to move for.
If his will was stronger, and his control over the Supreme King Haki was more masterful, it also possible to make them fall into a coma for a short while, and this is just the basic usage of this Haki, that known as the strongest colour among three of them.
Because with the Supreme King Haki, it also possible to use Infusion, that is similar to Armament Haki, but different, because if Armament is known for its monstrous defence.
Infusion greatly increases the attack power of Haki to a crazy level, that Armament only can increases the attack power slightly, unless using the advance version of Armament Haki, but that will be for another time.
In the end, as Zack recalled this, by the information within his head. He tried to react the feeling of using the Supreme King Haki.
But nothing happened.
Causing a sigh leaving Zack's lips. Knowing using the Supreme King Haki, the strongest form of Haki. Is not easy to use, even if he managed to use it not long ago.
Not to mention this Haki type that cannot be trained, since the strength of the Supreme King Haki, is the strength of the user itself.
'I want to look more into this… but it has to be when I return back to the guild… this is not really the place to look into this…' Zack thought to himself, as he looked at the countless corpses of Spider Monsters around them.
Sky Shatter killed many of the Spider Monsters in its path. Just recalling the feeling of killing so many of these Spider Monsters, made Zack felt sick, even dizzy, if it wasn't for his determined willpower, he might even throw up, or fall asleep, due to the overwhelming guilt he feels.
This is the first time in his life, ever since he has been reborn with no memories of his past life. that Zack cross path with Death, something he is bound to come across with one day as a Wizard.
And yet… it wasn't just the feeling of killing and death, that lead to this guilt. The guilt of killing was just one part of two halves, as the first half wasn't the killing that made Zack feel so guilty.
It was Gray himself.
Because everything in this mission is his own fault.
After all, who was the one who wanted to do this Bandit Subrogate Mission?
The one who made Gray to come along, because they wanted to hung around with his dear friend?
And the one, who abandoned Gray behind, to selfishly hunt and play around with the Bandits, that Zack could defeat instantly, if he didn't hold back, and overused his Haki and physical limits.
All of this is his own fault. Which is why Zack covered his face with his hands, as he once again, due to his naivety and foolishness hurt someone else once again.
With a long sigh, Zack turned his eyes towards the sun in the sky, causing Zack to bitterly laugh, as he had no clue, the sun is about to settle down.
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'My head… Night?'
Gray thought, blinking his dark blue eyes, looking at the dark blue night sky.
"When did it turned to night?"
Gray went aloud, causing movements to be heard behind him, which is why Gray turned his face behind himself, only to look at Zack who sighed with relief seeing him up.
"Zack?" Gray went, calling his friend's name, causing him to remember why his body felt so painful, when he was dealing with that Lovely person, as well with those spider Monsters, that seems to never end.
"What happened to that Dark Wizard? And his spiders?" Gray asked.
"He… I believe you call dead… I seem to awakened my Supreme King Haki, causing the wizard, and his Monsters to paralyze for few seconds… and for some reason, the Monsters turned their backs on their master, and killed him, before they all fled." Zack went, trying his best to explain what has happened.
Gray just sighed hearing Zack.
Death is not a simple topic to Gray.
And from the look of it, Zack also seems a little shaken by this as well. And Gray knew it not just the death of the Wizard, that bothers Zack, who also probable shaken even by killing Monsters as well.
After all, in the end, killing is killing, ending the life of another, even if that other is a person, animal, insect, or a Monster.
Many will not think twice about ending the lives of insects, some even don't feel guilt, if they were an animal either.
And yet, there are those, that felt extreme burden when it comes to taking any form of life, even if they were Monsters, who are threats in themselves.
Zack Smasher is that kind of person.
The kind that felt guilty, even the smallest of life, and even the life, that also dangerous to even other life as well.
A kind and a naïve person one could say, but knowing Zack's background, it cannot be helped.
"I see… I don't know what this supreme whatever Haki is. I guess we are lucky it happened that way. Even so… are you okay?" Gray askes, slightly startled Zack.
"I am okay…?" Zack askes back.
"Yeah… you look a little startled, I can guess what happened… the thing about death is never an easy thing to talk about. But it will make you feel slightly better talking about it… it never easy when it comes to killing… person or Monster, it is something you bound to encounter, especially in our field of work as a Wizard."
Gray went, knowing the path of a Wizard is not always filled with light.
Dealing with Dark Wizards, Bandits, Monsters, and even other forms of threats. And there also times, when Legal Wizards are enlisted into wars.
One might not realise the life of a Wizard, can be a dangerous one, especially when it is companied by death itself, when one has to deal with lowlifes and illegal Wizards, who turned to the dark side of the world.
Anyone knew this, but when the time comes, when one has to deal with death.
No one realises, how hard and torturous death can be on one's mind. Which lead many Wizards to quit their career as Wizards, due to this mental burden
"…Shouldn't you be blaming me…? I left you behind, and selfishly dealt with the Bandits myself, and leaving you with the Monsters… and that Dark Wizard." Zack askes with a down look.
"Sure, I am mad about that. Very so, but I can hit or blame you all I want later. I am too tired to even handle such things, that Natsu does on a daily basis. And when you did that, you didn't do it with ill intentions.
Nor did we know there was more of those damned spiders… speaking of spiders… I had enough of them for a lifetime, thank you~" Gray went with a light joke, causing Zack to laugh and nod with him, agreeing to they have enough of those insect based Monsters for a lifetime.
"You are right… but I wonder was it right, to let them go, especially that massive one at the end." Zack went, recalling of the Dark Wizard's trump card, the A-Class Giant Spider Monster, that is as big as a house is.
"Stone Spider…? As B-Class they are… they are known to be vegetarian, unlike those Assassin Spiders… we just need to report back to Master what has happened. This bandit mission is no simple one… especially when it was their intentions to capture us… how many fallen for their schemes… we cannot be the first ones, nor the last ones…"
Gray went with a sigh.
In order for this Lovely to do something like this. There has to be a Dark Guild, or something similar involve behind Lovely and his minions.
Gray doesn't know about the Bandits, since he didn't deal with them. Lovely was too prepared, and even has the force, his Monsters to deal with anything below S-Class, and he bet he might even have something else under his sleeve, in case he does face a S-Class Wizard.
Was it himself, who got those preparations? Or was it the guild or organisation Lovely part of? And it has to be an underground kind of guild or organisation, seeing Lovely also has connections to sell those he captures as slaves.
In the end, this is something that both himself and Zack are too weak and inexperienced to handle. However, while Zack and Gray has no chance against whoever is behind Lovely.
They are not alone.
They still have their Guild, and the S-Class Wizards among their ranks.
But one thing that worries Gray, is the headache the Guild Master will have, when he has to report this matter to those guys from the Magic Council, that will 100% get involved, especially when it comes to slavery involving Dark Wizards.
"Stone Spider…? So, that house sized spider is called that?"
While Gray thought that, Zack thought the name of the Giant Spider, he mistaken as the Stone Spider, was very unfitting to be called by that.
On the other hand, Gray is snapped out of his thoughts, hearing his friend. Did he hear it wrong? And yet, Zack is not the type to lie, even if he could mistake things.
But how can he mistake the size of a house? Especially when it comes to a Stone Spider that at that sized.
Just knowing that, Gray's face became pale in fright, even if Gray might has guess that Lovely person has a trump card, but to think it was a fricking S-Class Monster!?
Of course, little did Gray knew, it was actually the A-Class Giant Spider, not a Stone Spider.
Even way, like said before, Stone Spiders are Monsters that originated from the Kingdom of Stella.
They are known as Monsters that come in all different sizes, bigger they are, stronger they are. from 1m tall D-Class, 3m tall, the same ones Gray and Zack dealt with, are B-Class Monsters.
But six-meter classed? They are S-Class Monsters! Monsters that only elites ranked Wizards can face.
Of course, that is not the truth. After all, the S-Class Stone Spider is many times stronger compared to the A-Class Giant Spider, even if they share the same height.
One is just a oversized spider, and the other has harder flesh and greater strength compared to the Giant Spiders are capable of.
Nevertheless, even if that is the case… even the weakest among A-Class Monsters are too much for the duo to handle.
"How much luck did we spent, to get away from such a Monster?" Gray went sighing.
"Never mind that… luck or not, it doesn't matter. What matter is…. are you okay or not?" Gray askes once again. Causing a bitter smile on Zack's lips.
"I am fine… I think. Like you said… death, was it? Is not easy, killing only made me feel like I am doing something I shouldn't… even if they are Monsters… was it right to end their lives? Is it wrong for me to think something like this over a Monster?" Zack askes.
"Many will think you an idiot, worrying over killing a Monster, some even laugh how silly you are, even if it's an animal you had killed. But in the end, killing a person or a Monster is the same. It is something you must do, in order to survive, doesn't mean it is easy to survive. Or least that is in my option." Gray went, explaining his own option in the topic of killing and death.
"But that don't mean, you should kill anything that is an enemy either. You should only kill, if you have no choice, or there is no other way, besides killing your enemy to stop them. Or least that is how I see this… as killing a life is option, it must be the last option. Otherwise, you will be no different to a monster yourself." Gray told, as he looked at the half-moon within the sky, recalling the events of the past, that still haunts him.
"I see… thanks." Zack went with a small smile, causing Gray to look away from the moon to his friend.
"No problem. Another piece of advice. Just bear with the guilt you are currently feeling. Sure, you will properly never forget it. But trust me, over time, it will be easier to cope when time moves on. Like someone said to me… time is the best cure for all things… even if it takes years at that." Gray went.
"Time huh…" Zack only said, as he also turned towards the half-moon, and when he looked at the silver white of the moon, caused Zack to recalled the face of Mirajane.
Just thinking of her, strangely calmed and raced his heart, a feeling he wondered if that too, will be better or worse within time.
End of Volume 1 – To Fairy Tail.
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That spells the end of vol.1, or if you read the original fanfic.
If nothing goes wrong, I should be back between 2 weeks to 2 months, hopefully its not that long.
As you know, I like to finish volumes before I post them. That is why.
Anyway, many thanks for those who been reading this far, and I hope you enjoy the next volume when it is fully complete.