The battle on Tenrou Island, the malice brought by Grimoire Heart, and the dense aura of dark magic released by Hades—all of these things were stimulating Zeref's nerves.
Zeref had a bad feeling that the Black Dragon's gaze might be drawn here.
Over all these years, the Black Dragon's pattern of appearance had actually shown certain signs.
Places where evil thoughts, hatred, and resentment gathered were its preferred targets.
The scent of massacre fascinated it as well.
The Black Dragon would pursue those whose bodies were steeped in the aura of slaughter, destroy wherever they were, and then vanish again without a trace.
Ordinary people knew nothing of this, but Zeref had lived for so long and had always kept an eye on the Black Dragon, so naturally he had discovered these things.
His desire to kill the Black Dragon was not something that had appeared overnight.
"Zeref! You finally decided to show yourself!"
The moment Zeref suddenly appeared, Hades was instantly invigorated.
He was the first to react, of course, because he was also the one on the battlefield most familiar with Zeref.
The old man looked wildly excited.
The way he looked at Zeref was like staring at hope itself.
The overwhelmingly powerful Zeref was his one and only hope of turning the tide!
'As long as I can awaken Zeref, restore him to his true self, then these Fairy Tail people won't be able to stir up any more trouble!'
Hades's heart surged with passion.
He longed for Zeref to turn the situation around and slaughter all these hateful fools!
Hades did have some understanding of Zeref's strength.
Back then, because of Mavis's introduction, Precht had been able to study magic under Zeref.
Naturally, he knew just how terrifying the legendary originator of dark mages truly was.
Actually, Zeref also remembered Precht quite well.
When he had taught Mavis, Precht, Yuri, and Warrod, he had already considered Precht to be exceptionally talented.
But from the look of things now, Precht had completely lost his way.
He had utterly abandoned the ideals he once shared with Mavis.
"You came here for me?"
Standing among the crowd, the center of everyone's attention, Zeref showed not the slightest sign of nervousness or impatience.
His face was stern as he calmly looked at the wildly excited Precht.
"That's right! Zeref! We came here for you! To awaken you! To help you complete a truly great cause!"
Hades answered at once.
His expression was exaggerated, and combined with his current disemboweled appearance, it only made him look even stranger.
Flesh was still slowly regenerating around his wound, making the whole sight deeply unsettling.
"You… will become the true king of magic and rule this world!"
Hades raised both hands and declared it loudly, looking at Zeref with all the devotion of a true fanatic.
"What nonsense."
That was Zeref's concise response to Hades's fervent declaration of loyalty.
He had no interest whatsoever in what Hades was saying.
In fact, it only made him angrier.
He was not that kind of person!
He treasured life deeply and did not wish to see innocent people slaughtered because of him.
"How can that be…"
Hades froze for a moment, clearly dissatisfied with Zeref's reaction.
But he quickly regained composure, because he had already prepared for this possibility.
He had brought the key to awaken Zeref.
At the same time, everyone present had finally processed what was happening.
Looking at the suddenly appeared Zeref, listening to the conversation between Zeref and Hades, they all now truly understood who Zeref was.
"This random dude… is really that Zeref?!"
Cana's eyes went wide, her jaw practically dropping in shock.
The sudden assault by Grimoire Heart had already been shocking enough.
Then it turned out that their Guild Master, Hades, was actually Fairy Tail's Second Guild Master and one of its founders.
That was already almost too much to process.
And now, just as the Second Guild Master seemed about to be defeated and taken down by Marco, the legendary ancestor of dark mages, Zeref himself, had appeared out of nowhere.
Did this person actually exist for real?!
The rest of Fairy Tail's members were just as shocked as Cana.
Zeref was a figure straight out of legend—even more mythical than Second Guild Master Precht.
They could barely force themselves to accept that Precht had become a dark mage and was now attacking Fairy Tail from the opposite side.
But Zeref's appearance was on an entirely different level.
It felt like a dream.
Even Makarov, experienced and knowledgeable as he was, was left staring blankly.
He had seen a lot in his life—but not this.
"I have no intention of helping you do such things, nor do I need any 'awakening.' In this age, I do not wish to see war break out or innocent people die. I warn you, Precht—stop the fighting immediately and leave Tenrou Island. Otherwise…"
Under everyone's gaze, the legendary "ancestor of dark mages" spoke.
He flatly rejected Hades's invitation, and the reason he gave sounded, if anything, positively righteous.
That only shocked Fairy Tail's people even more.
After all, Zeref's reputation had always been terrible—he was the kind of name used to frighten children into silence, the sort of villain who should absolutely stand against Fairy Tail.
But this Zeref… seemed oddly different.
Even Marco was surprised.
What was going on with Zeref?
Wasn't he supposed to be some great final villain? This didn't seem right at all!
Zeref's stance didn't seem anything like what Marco had imagined.
Could this bizarre guy actually be… one of the good guys?
But then what about the Demons of Zeref?
Those weren't fake.
They had encountered them more than once.
Mirajane alone was proof of that—the demons she had taken over were absolutely real.
So although Zeref looked righteous, Marco did not lower his guard at all.
Who knew what this guy's real deal was?
What if he was just saying whatever sounded good?
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