Following Lucy's stunned gaze, the corner of her mouth began to twitch uncontrollably.
Bathed in the eerie glow of the purple moonlight stood four figures. No scratch that four complete weirdos.
Their clothes were completely gone, leaving them in only their base undergarments, striking bare-chested poses with absolutely no shame.
"Oh, don't mind this kind of small thing," Ulu said casually, noticing Lucy's red face and waving her pale arms to fan her. "Sometimes it just feels… cooler this way."
She smiled lightly, her earlier storm of emotions seemingly dispersed.
"It's been a while," Gray added with a solemn nod. "Honestly, it does feel kinda nice."
"It's like turning back the clock."
Leon, now free from his guilt and confusion, looked visibly more cheerful. Gone was the bitter edge from his expression. He opened his arms wide to the sea breeze, chest exposed like a fashion disaster, embracing the cool night air with the enthusiasm of a man reborn.
Lucy: "…"
So that's where Gray got his stripping habit from.
She grimaced.
"Forget those three for a second… but why is Miss Urrutia also…?"
Her eyes hesitantly moved past the perverted trio, landing on Urrutia elegant, stoic, and mysterious.
Even though this was their first real meeting, Lucy's womanly intuition screamed that Urrutia should have been the graceful, classy type. Nothing about her seemed like she'd belong among these three lunatics.
"I just felt like… if I didn't do it too, I wouldn't really belong…"
Urrutia's cheeks flushed pink under Lucy's piercing stare. She brushed aside her long black hair, glancing away and murmuring, "Besides, it is a lot cooler like this."
She had learned the truth about her so-called "abandonment" just today. Everything she had built her pain around… had crumbled. Right now, what she needed most was to feel free. Light.
Lucy could understand those feelings… but not this very specific method of expression.
Still, compared to the deeper things happening, this was indeed a trivial matter.
Ulu stepped forward and approached Chase, her voice full of sincerity.
"I've heard everything from Gray and Leon," she said, looking at him with quiet gratitude. "Brother Chase… thank you. You gave me a second chance at life. And more than that… you let me see my two foolish, stubborn apprentices again."
She paused and glanced at the woman behind her, voice softening.
"And you gave me back my daughter. Urrutia."
With those words, Ulu bent at the waist and gave Chase a deep, respectful bow, solemn and full of emotion.
Urrutia followed silently and bowed too more reserved, but just as heartfelt.
Her long black hair hid most of her expression, but in her eyes, there was more than just thanks. There was reverence.
If Chase had simply saved Ulu's life, then for Urrutia, he had done something even greater he had saved her heart.
Ulu's resurrection had shattered the twisted truths she had clung to for years. For the first time in forever, Urrutia felt how raw, real, and unchangeable the world could be. And yet, here it was… changing anyway.
Fairy Tail really was always like this wild, impossible, emotional, and full of miracles.
If it weren't for the man standing in front of her, Urrutia knew exactly where she would be still trapped in the beautiful illusion of a "Great Magic World," spiraling deeper and deeper into guilt, committing sins she could never take back.
She thought of Jellal, who had been misled by her twisted ideals.
She thought of Meredy… and the hometown she herself had destroyed.
Regret weighed heavily on her shoulders.
Her expression darkened, the lines of sorrow deepening across her elegant features.
But then, she looked up and made a silent resolution.
"It's honestly hard to believe that you, Mr. Chase, and that idiot Gray are from the same guild," Leon said, his tone teasing as always grateful, but unable to resist the jab.
"Hey! Don't let his mysterious act fool you!" Gray snapped, his cheeks red. "Chase is the number one disaster in Fairy Tail!"
Compared to Ulu and the others, Gray had known Chase for much longer. They'd laughed, fought, trained, and nearly destroyed buildings together. Trying to offer formal thanks now felt painfully awkward.
So he gave up.
He turned his face away with a huff, but deep down, his gratitude carved itself firmly into his heart.
"Hmm…"
Chase rubbed his chin, studying the four of them with a thoughtful gaze.
"That's it? Just a bunch of thank-yous?"
His tone was flat, unimpressed.
"I can't repay the grace of being brought back to life," Ulu said seriously, not missing a beat. "Whatever you need, as long as it's within my power… just say the word."
"I'm with her," Urrutia echoed, her voice quiet but resolute.
Leon and Gray didn't speak. They didn't need to. The determined look in their eyes said it all.
"Oh? Anything, you say?"
A mischievous glint sparked in Chase's eyes, the corner of his mouth lifting into a grin that spelled trouble.
"Yes!" Ulu and Urrutia answered together, loud and clear, no hesitation.
Lucy, who'd been silently observing, furrowed her brows. She had a bad feeling about this…
"Well then," Chase stretched a little, casually cracking his knuckles, "once you've recovered… let's have a nice, proper fight!"
Two days and nights of hard work had to be worth something.
If he was lucky, dueling Ulu and Urrutia both around Saint X-level might earn him some incredible new cards.
Leon? He was a solid S-Class wizard. Acceptable, maybe even decent.
As for Gray…
Yeah. Let's just pretend Gray doesn't count.
"Ah?"
Ulu, Urrutia, and Leon all blinked at once, stunned by Chase's sudden and utterly unreasonable request.
They had been mentally prepared to repay him with anything guidance, wisdom, even their lives if necessary but a fight?
Meanwhile, Fairy Tail's rowdy crew exploded like a lit fuse.
"I knew it! Brother Chase, you're a complete battle maniac!!" Natsu shouted, punching the air with excitement.
"That smug face of yours pisses me off!" Gray growled, veins popping.
"A battle? With Gray's master? Awesome! This is gonna be epic!" Elfman bellowed, eyes gleaming with passion.
"Love~!" Happy chimed in, hugging his spicy fish like a plushie.
"...You guys really came running just by sniffing out a fight," Lucy muttered with a sigh.
"Tch. A candle flame like you dares to challenge Ulu?" Erza remarked coldly to Natsu, arms crossed. "You're overestimating yourself."
"What did you say, you armored pervert with dead fish eyes?!" Natsu shot back.
"Lucy! Can you smell it? It's the scent of a challenge!" Happy added, offering her the fish.
"I was talking about Natsu, not the fish!" she replied, dodging both the brawl and the offer.
In the next second, Natsu and Gray were at it again, fists flying, insults screaming, rolling across the floor in a whirlwind of fire and ice. Lucy wisely backed far away, having predicted this exact turn of events, and politely declined Happy's now slightly charred offering of grilled fish.
The whole scene burst into joyful chaos in a heartbeat.
Ulu, Urrutia, and Leon just stood there in silent disbelief.
What… is this?
"Are they always like this?" Ulu asked, her eyes flicking between the brawling boys and the shouting crowd.
"They're all such adorable kids," she murmured after a moment, a smile spreading across her face. Watching Gray wrestle with Natsu, she felt a wave of warmth in her heart. "It looks like Gray found himself a good guild."
"Fairy Tail has always been like this," Urrutia said, shaking her head with a soft smile of her own. Though she had only observed the guild from afar during her time in the Council, stories about their antics were infamous and endearing.
"...A guild, huh," Leon muttered, eyes distant as he watched the noisy group, his expression unreadable.
Amidst the chaos, Ulu stepped toward Chase, who compared to the wild bunch remained the most composed, standing quietly by with his hands in his pockets. (Mainly because he had zero magic power left and couldn't join even if he wanted to.)
"Brother Chase," Ulu said, her tone lowering as she approached, "I hope this isn't offensive to the one who saved me, but…"
She paused for a second, then met his eyes with all the sincerity of a master of ice magic.
"Could you tell me… how you broke the Absolute Freeze?"
For an ice wizard, this wasn't just a curiosity it was a foundational mystery.
Absolute Freeze was forbidden magic among forbidden magics. Once cast, it was final. There was no turning back.
Even the legendary Moon Drip channeling concentrated moonlight could only melt the unbreakable ice into cold water. And even that required immense time, precision, and manpower.
Yet here stood Ulu. Whole. Breathing. Alive.
And Chase had done it. Somehow.
She needed to know.
She had never once heard of any wizard using Absolute Freeze and still returning body and mind intact as she had now.
No one.
Chase had expected this question from Ulu. He looked calm, thoughtful, and began explaining again, using the same reasoning he'd earlier offered Lucy.
"The concept of reshaping ice back into a human form using transformation magic… was just a wild theory. Something I thought up while casually talking with someone," he said.
He met Ulu's eyes, steady and honest. "If the Absolute Freeze's magical structure had remained intact, I wouldn't have been able to do anything. It was only possible because the magic had begun to fade."
Ulu's sharp instincts didn't miss the key point.
"You said… you were discussing it with someone?"
Chase gave a faint nod. "Among my card spirits, there's one an old sage of sorts who's devoted centuries to researching every kind of magic."
"I see…"
Ulu quietly accepted this with a look of realization, though she knew deep down that it couldn't possibly be as simple as Chase made it sound.
Still, she didn't press further.
Instead, she turned away and lifted her eyes toward the moonlit sky, where soft sea breezes brushed past her face. The purple glow made everything feel unreal like a dream she hadn't yet fully awakened from.
"The world beyond the Northern Continent… is truly vast," she murmured, her voice tinged with awe and reflection.
She had spent her entire life training, sacrificing, and believing there was no way back from Absolute Freeze. That such an irreversible magic could be reversed by someone outside the Council, outside their archives was humbling.
But more than that, she realized… it didn't matter.
Whether Chase used some impossible method or pulled off a miracle, she had seen her boys again.
She had hugged her daughter again.
What could be more precious than that?
The mystery of magic, the laws of the arcane none of it compared.
This moment, this miracle… was enough.
...
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