"..."
Marco remained silent.
The love, hatred, and complicated emotions between Mavis and Zeref truly made it hard to comment.
But how should he put it?
The Zeref Mavis described was somewhat different from the Zeref Marco had seen now.
If he had to say it, the current Zeref was far less emotionally normal and mentally stable than the Zeref in Mavis's words.
The current Zeref could lie there doing nothing and still release death energy.
His attitude toward people and life gave the impression of someone both barely holding together and yet half giving up. In short, his mental state was extremely unstable.
But Marco could understand it too.
Maintaining that state for several hundred years would be unbearable for anyone.
Back then, Mavis had only lived in that state for one year, so it was natural that she would feel Zeref was incredible and admire him, even worship him.
Putting himself in Zeref's place, Marco felt that even he might find it very hard to do what Zeref had done, wandering alone for hundreds of years.
"Those cursed by Ankhseram cannot live properly, nor can they die. Perhaps death is the true release for us. He has always been seeking death. Unfortunately, in the end, he saved me."
Although Mavis had only lived that way for one year, she was absolutely the person in this world who understood Zeref the most.
Between the two of them, whoever remained alive in the world would be the one enduring suffering.
"He created so many messy things just to kill himself, but in the end, he failed to kill himself and caused even more tragedies instead. His mental state really is terrible."
Marco now completely understood Zeref's actions.
That included why he had not dealt with those demons. Perhaps it was also because of his mental state.
He had always told himself that he could not love humanity, to the point that sometimes, he had truly fooled himself.
"..."
Mavis lowered her head and sighed weakly.
Even if she wanted to help now, she could not.
She was only a ghost with no real power.
Buzz!!!
Just as Marco and Mavis each fell into silent thought because of Zeref, a surge of magic power suddenly appeared nearby.
"Someone's here."
Marco's gaze immediately turned toward the source of the magic power.
It was a portal, a portal surging with evil magic power.
Marco could tell at a glance that it belonged to demonic power.
There was someone at home who specialized in taking over demons to fight, so Marco was naturally not unfamiliar with this strange energy.
These demons, Zeref's demons, used a power called Curses rather than magic.
It was like that flute from before. Curses and magic were quite different.
"Demons created by Zeref?" Mavis asked curiously.
Naturally, Mavis had nothing to worry about. She herself was a ghost and was already dead.
As for Marco's strength, she knew it better than anyone.
This was a person who could truly clash head-on with the Black Dragon. No matter how many enemies came, they absolutely could not harm Marco.
"Looks like it."
Marco nodded.
This really was a case of summoning whatever they had just talked about.
They had only just been discussing Zeref, and now Zeref's demons had appeared right beside them.
Buzz!!!
Magic power surged around the portal. Before long, several figures emerged from within it.
Each of them had strange and bizarre appearances. One glance was enough to tell that they were not human.
Among this group of bizarre figures, the one leading them looked the most human.
He had black hair, was dressed properly, and held a book in his hand.
His whole person carried a rather scholarly air, though his expression was gloomy, and he did not look like a good person either.
"Hm? There's actually someone here?"
The leader also noticed Marco standing atop Fairy Sphere.
At first, he was somewhat surprised, but very quickly, he stopped caring. Judging from his attitude, he did not take Marco seriously at all.
Their group had come here to look for Zeref.
They had heard that Zeref had appeared here, so they had rushed over to investigate the situation.
...
"These demons actually have an organization?!"
Looking at the group of demons, Mavis widened her eyes, finding the whole thing absurd.
These demons had actually gathered together, and from the look of it, they even came from the same organization, led by the one standing at the front.
"They've hidden themselves pretty well."
Marco was also surprised.
An organization of demons like this was actually unknown to the world. Even he had never heard of it.
"Command: come here."
While Marco was still puzzled, the demons on the other side had already made their move.
A beautiful woman with long dark purple hair opened her mouth and directly issued an order to Marco.
Buzz!
Marco tilted his head slightly.
He felt an evil power rush toward him, attempting to forcibly control his body.
The woman who activated this ability had horns on her head, wore a kimono with thigh-high stockings, possessed an explosive figure, and dressed rather revealingly.
She seemed to be a demon with the ability to control other people's bodies.
Marco stood there without moving, allowing that power to tug at his body, yet it could not shake him in the slightest.
That evil power wanted to cut off all the bodily signals sent from Marco's brain, but it simply could not do it.
The two sides were not on the same level at all.
That power's attack and obstruction against Marco's nervous system was like a mayfly trying to shake a great tree, or a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
Marco's spirit had long since surpassed what ordinary people could compare to.
The awakening of Sixth Sense Cosmo was not simply about strengthening physical ability. Physical ability was merely the outward part, the easiest thing to train.
Every Saint was a well-rounded warrior.
The essence of Sixth Sense Cosmo was the development and continuous evolution of the brain.
The essence of the Sixth Sense was a spiritual perception ability that surpassed the five senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.
Through an extremely developed brain, one could perceive the microscopic atomic world and higher-dimensional spaces that ordinary people could never detect.
Buzz!
With only a slight tremor of Marco's thoughts, he directly broke free from that power's bite.
To him, this ability was truly no different from being bitten by a mosquito.
If someone wanted to control him, they would at least need to bring in someone at the Seventh Sense level.
If divided according to Saint ranks, Marco had already reached the level of a Silver Saint.
All kinds of supernatural abilities were much easier for him to use than when he had only just entered the Sixth Sense, and there were now even more miscellaneous powers at his disposal.
As the Sixth Sense grew stronger and the brain continued to evolve, the supernatural abilities one could grasp would also increase.
Powerhouses whose life level gradually approached the Seventh Sense could even possess thousands upon thousands of supernatural abilities, because their Cosmo was vast enough to bear the consumption caused by using countless powers.
Buzz!
Marco's eyes widened, and he launched a mental shock straight at the horned, revealingly dressed demon.
Courtesy demanded reciprocity.
Since the other side had made the first move, he had to return one as well.
Pfft!
With just one glare from Marco, Seilah of the Cool Moon Heaven immediately began bleeding from all seven orifices.
The terrifying mental shock struck her so hard that her mind went blank.
"Seilah?!"
Seilah's sudden condition stunned the demons of Tartaros.
Kyôka of the Star Chains Heaven, who wore armor, a mask, and had a slender figure with green hair, caught Seilah.
The demons' gazes all turned toward the man in the distance.
That man was clearly the culprit.
Just now, Seilah had volunteered to bring that person over for questioning, only to suffer immediate backlash the moment she used her ability.
"Wait! That guy... Could he be...?"
Among this group of demons was a black-haired man with no inhuman features, much like their leader.
Looking at Marco standing atop the distant golden sphere, his eyes suddenly widened.
He recognized him!
That man was the Guild Master of the guild his son belonged to!
"Fairy Tail's Guild Master! Star God of Roses! Grand Duke of Roses! Marco Dreyar! It's definitely him!"
The tall Silver Fullbuster, known as Absolute Zero, spoke and revealed the identity of the man in the distance.
"Oh? So that's him?"
The leading man rubbed the cover of the book in his hand.
He was the ruler of Tartaros, the one known as the King of the Underworld, Mard Geer.
At this moment, Mard Geer stared at Marco, his eyes glinting with a searching light.
According to the rumors, this was the man who had repelled the Black Dragon and Zeref.
Mard Geer did not believe that at all.
How could anyone possibly defeat the Black Dragon and Zeref?
Although he kept saying in his heart that he did not believe it, Mard Geer had still honestly gathered Tartaros's main fighting force and hurried over to this place to search for news of Zeref.
The demons did not want to miss any chance.
What if Zeref truly had come here?
The mysterious Tartaros was different from Oración Seis and Grimoire Heart.
Tartaros was truly mysterious to the extreme.
Not the slightest news about them had leaked out, to the point that no one even knew they were made up of demons.
...
"I'll go take a look and clean them up while I'm at it. Stay farther away."
On top of Fairy Sphere, Marco spoke to Mavis in a relaxed tone.
In her current state, these demons did not seem able to see Mavis.
But demons had all kinds of strange abilities, so to be safe, it was better for Mavis to stay away from them.
After all, the current Mavis really did not have any combat strength.
"All right. Good luck, Marco-chan!"
Mavis nodded.
As the Fairy Tactician, she was not foolish.
She knew that if she followed him over now, she would only distract Marco, so she naturally would not stupidly insist on going with him.
Besides, Mavis had great confidence in Marco.
This group of Zeref's demons could not possibly defeat him.
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