By the riverside in Magnolia, Lucy walked along the edge of the embankment with her arms stretched wide, swaying gently as she made her way home.
Behind her, Canis Minor, Prue, trembled nervously as she followed, while the fisherman bobbing on the water called out kindly, "Be careful on the edge, miss!"
"Chase is out on a date with Loki and Elfman..." Lucy murmured to herself.
In her mind, she imagined it a hidden middle-schooler type, a shameless flirt who hit on every girl, and a musclebound tough guy, sitting together talking about love.
Her face twitched.
"Gah! I really want to know what that scene looks like!"
Lucy clenched her fists, her eyes sparkling with curiosity that could rival a journalist chasing gossip. Her cheeks flushed red as her imagination spiraled out of control, and her heartbeat quickened with excitement.
Still stuck in her wild thoughts, she arrived back at her rented apartment.
She pulled out her key, turned the lock, and pushed the door open.
A beam of bright light greeted her.
Weird… why am I not surprised the lights are on?
Just as Lucy was about to utter her confusion
The next moment, the scene that unfolded in front of her nearly made her spit blood.
Natsu and Happy were lying in the middle of her living room carpet doing push-ups.
"You two again!"
Lucy's eyes twitched violently. She pointed at them and roared, "If you want to exercise, go do it in the street! You smell like sweaty socks!!!"
"Hey, Lucy, welcome back," Natsu greeted her casually, as if he were the rightful tenant.
"Love~! Lucy, welcome back!" Happy raised his paws and beamed.
"This is my house!!" Lucy screamed, veins popping on her forehead.
"Oh yeah, Lucy, I didn't know you had something like this at home. It's super helpful!" Natsu said with genuine admiration as he pulled out a pink dumbbell from under her coffee table and gave it a few pumps.
"Now I can work out right here in your place!"
"You really are something, Natsu," Happy nodded in faux seriousness. "Looks like we've found our new training spot."
Lucy's mouth opened in disbelief. "…So all that was just an excuse for breaking into my house? You two thieves!!"
"Happy! Next set 200 push-ups!" Natsu barked, unfazed.
"Aye, sir!!"
"Love~!"
"Would you please listen to the person who actually lives here?! The stink of your sweat is wafting over to me!"
Lucy glared at the man and cat still furiously doing push-ups on her carpet. She sighed, pulled over a wooden stool, and dropped into it with resignation.
"Just finish whatever it is and go home. I need to rest."
She let out a heavy sigh, halfway between frustration and surrender. At this point, she wasn't sure whether having these two weirdos constantly barging into her life was a blessing or a curse.
Natsu finally stopped and sat down cross-legged, a rare seriousness settling onto his face.
Happy followed suit, mirroring the intensity.
"Hey, Lucy," Natsu said. "We've made up our minds. We're going to take on an S-rank mission and prove to the old man and that jerk Laxus that I deserve to be recognized."
Across the river, in a quiet part of town, stood a single-family house.
Inside, Chase sat comfortably in his living room, sipping tea. The Dark Magician Girl leaned against the open windowsill, watching from above.
"It's just like you said, Master. They've really set off."
Her keen eyes followed Lucy as she hurried down the street, quickly catching up with Natsu and Happy, who carried travel packs on their backs.
Although Fairy Tail's strict rules stated that only S-Class mages could accept S-Class commissions, the reward for this one had been too tempting for Lucy to ignore.
A Celestial Spirit Key and not just any key, but a rare Zodiac Key.
"She pretended to hesitate," Chase said with a small smile, "but the moment she saw the reward, her heart was already chasing after them."
He took another sip of tea, then added, "Still, even if he rushes into danger headfirst, Natsu always thinks of Lucy first."
His tone was light, even amused.
Then, looking at the Dark Magician Girl's lively demeanor, he added, "But what surprises me more is that you've recovered already."
Normally, when a card monster is destroyed, it's forced to return to the deck and rest for a period of time. After the brutal battle against Ignia, the Flame Dragon, she had been in hibernation for three days straight.
"I was lucky Erza didn't go for any fatal strikes," she said, touching her cheek lightly and smiling sweetly. "And besides, Master, compared to the Kiltina Continent… you've gotten even stronger."
"That's true."
Since returning to Magnolia, Chase had collected four new cards including Castle Guard Pterosaur, Brainwash, and the Right Wrist of the Sealed. Together, these had raised his magic power to a whole new level.
"I'm glad we caught this timing," the Dark Magician Girl beamed. "A purple moon, demons flying through the sky… just imagining it sounds beautiful!"
Chase blinked. "Beautiful?"
He looked at her, then chuckled softly. Of course. For a being from a different dimension like her, such things might really seem lovely.
"So Master, when are we heading out?" she asked eagerly.
"Tomorrow morning," he replied. "We'll need a proper excuse to take the job."
He looked down at the rippling surface of his tea and grew quiet.
"Natsu and the others going to Karuna Island means one thing… the Moon Drip ritual is already at its final stage."
He narrowed his eyes.
"That means the ice sealing Deliora, the spell cast by Ur herself… is about to melt."
The Dark Magician Girl sat beside him, tilting her head. "Ur isn't she the master of Gray? The one you mentioned before?"
"Yeah," Chase said, finishing his tea with a decisive gulp. His gaze turned sharp.
The time to end Ur's story and eliminate her frozen legacy had finally come.
The next morning. Fairy Tail Guild.
The calm of the early hour was suddenly broken by the sound of someone sprinting down the stairs.
"Master!" Mira's panicked voice rang out. "One of the commissions from the second floor is missing!"
CRASH!
Makarov spat out his tea in shock, his tiny frame trembling with rage.
The entire guild froze.
"What?! That board only holds S-rank missions, right?!"
"Mira didn't log the mission… So Chase and the others didn't take it?"
"Who's the idiot that pulled something like this?!"
Everyone in the guild was talking at once, completely caught off guard that someone would do something so reckless.
"I saw it happen. A flying cat took the commission," came a loud voice that silenced the entire guild.
Up on the second-floor balcony, Laxus sat with his legs crossed, watching the chaos unfold with a mocking grin on his face.
"A cat with wings? You mean… Happy?"
"Wait… now that I think about it, I haven't seen Natsu or Lucy today either."
"What are those two thinking?! Don't they know how dangerous S-rank commissions are?!"
Mira, still standing by the stairs, quickly climbed back to the second floor and glared at the man with spiky blond hair.
"Laxus," she demanded, "since you saw everything, why didn't you stop them?!"
"I thought it was just some thief cat," Laxus said with a shrug, feigning innocence. "Didn't expect it to be Happy and Natsu."
Then, turning with a smirk toward the first floor, he added mockingly, "Hey, old man, that's a pretty serious violation of guild rules. They'll be expelled, right?"
He leaned back and chuckled coldly. "But honestly, with how pathetic they are, they're more likely to die on the job first. Hahahaha!"
The moment he finished speaking, a sharp chill cut through the air.
Laxus paused, looking up to see Mira's face had gone completely cold her gentle expression now replaced by something far more dangerous.
She was deathly silent.
"Haha… I haven't seen that expression in a while," Laxus muttered, sitting up slightly straighter. "What now? You going to unleash your Satan Soul and try to beat me down?"
Makarov, already on edge, stepped in before things could escalate.
"Mira," he said quickly, "which commission was taken?"
Mira's brows were tightly furrowed. "The one for Cursed Island. Karuna."
"What?!"
Makarov shot up in shock, nearly knocking over his chair.
This wasn't just any S-rank job. That island…
"Laxus!" he barked. "Go get Natsu back. That place is far too dangerous for him right now!"
Aside from Laxus, the only one strong enough to deal with this situation was Mira, who had only just returned from her self-imposed retreat.
But Laxus's mocking attitude had rubbed the entire guild the wrong way so much so that even Mira, normally the very image of gentleness, looked ready to snap.
If he went and retrieved Natsu now, maybe just maybe he could redeem himself a little in everyone's eyes.
After all, Makarov didn't want his grandson to be hated and cast out by the family known as Fairy Tail.
But Laxus didn't care.
"No can do," he said flatly. "I've got a commission of my own."
His words stung like ice.
The truth was, Laxus had no interest in the old man's sentimentality. Even if he knew what his grandfather was thinking, he simply didn't care.
He believed no, he knew that he was destined to be the strongest in the guild.
So why should he give a damn about the opinions of a bunch of weaklings?
What a joke.
"You!" Makarov clenched his fists, seething with anger.
Laxus had made it abundantly clear he wasn't going to lift a finger. Mira's eyes dimmed with disappointment. She took a deep breath and stepped forward.
"Master, let me go," she said firmly.
"Be a man! Sis Mira, I'll go with you!" Elfman jumped to his feet, confidence burning in his eyes.
Now that he had fully mastered the Soul of the Beast King, he felt no fear.
But just as Mira was about to respond, another voice chimed in.
"No need, Mira. You've got plenty of guild work to take care of, right?"
Gray stood up, arms crossed, a calm and serious expression on his face.
"It's just Natsu… and those two tag-alongs. I'll handle it, Master."
Makarov narrowed his eyes, clearly skeptical. He knew Gray was strong but was he enough?
Before Gray could defend himself, the guild doors slammed open with a loud bang.
Everyone turned at once.
Chase strolled in calmly, hands in his pockets, with the Dark Magician Girl at his side.
"Chase!" Mira's tense expression immediately softened. A warm, relieved smile lit up her face.
"Tch. Here comes another busybody," Laxus muttered coldly as he got up and walked away.
Even so, he didn't look back.
Because deep down, he knew if Chase was getting involved, things would be fine.
He might have found most people in the guild irritating, but when it came to power, even he acknowledged Chase.
"Gray, I'll go with you," Chase said casually, cracking his knuckles. "We've got nothing better to do anyway."
"Hey! I just said I can handle it alone!" Gray protested.
"It's settled then. If you have any objections," Chase said with a grin, "you can take it up with my fists."
"…No objections."
And just like that, Chase wrapped an arm around Gray's shoulder and walked him toward the door.
They gave Makarov a quick wave before leaving the guild to chase down Natsu and the others.
Once they were gone, the guild atmosphere relaxed again.
People returned to drinking, laughing, and bickering as usual. Not a single person seemed worried anymore.
Because that was the kind of confidence Chase brought with him.
Wherever he went, things would be taken care of.
That was the unshakable sense of security he gave to everyone in Fairy Tail.