Chapter 23: The Foggy Mukuro and the Fairy Queen (3)
Natsu and his group boarded the train departing from Magnolia Station.
With Natsu's notorious motion sickness rendering him useless, Erza had promptly knocked him out and was now explaining the situation to Lucy and Gray.
"Lullaby?"
"Like… a sleeping spell? Some kind of sleep magic?"
"Not sure… But considering it's sealed, it must be a pretty dangerous spell."
Listening to Erza's explanation, Gray furrowed his brows, still not fully grasping the gravity of the situation.
She had overheard some men talking in a bar after her last mission. They were planning to break the seal on an artifact called "Lullaby."
The whole thing reeked of suspicion, but to Gray, it still didn't seem like something worth getting personally involved in.
"I mean… there are people trying to unseal some unknown magic… but that's it, right? We don't even know what it does. It might turn out to be nothing."
"Yeah… That's what I thought at first too."
Erza's expression hardened as she continued.
"At least, until I heard the name Erigor."
"Erigor?"
"The ace of the wizard guild Eisenwald, now its master. He's known as 'Reaper' Erigor."
"R-Reaper?!"
Lucy flinched at the ominous title, but Erza remained calm.
"He got that nickname because he only accepted assassination jobs. Technically, assassination missions are forbidden by the Council—but Eisenwald chose profit over rules. As a result… six years ago, they were expelled from the Wizard Guild Federation.
They've been classified as a Dark Guild ever since."
"A Dark Guild?!"
"Lucy, you're sweating buckets."
"That's not soup!"
"Wait a second!! They were expelled? Isn't that… punishment enough?!"
"They were punished. Eisenwald's former master was arrested and the guild was ordered to disband.
But most Dark Guilds ignore those orders and keep operating anyway."
Later, after arriving at Onibus Station and disembarking, Lucy carried her bags while catching up to Erza to talk.
And as she followed behind, she couldn't help but think:
I shouldn't have come…
"Still, it was my mistake... If only I'd remembered the name Erigor sooner… I would've just painted the whole place red."
"KYAAA!!"
"Maybe you could've handled the guys at the bar on your own," Gray added, "but if we're talking about taking on an entire guild... that's a different story."
"They're planning something with that spell, Lullaby. I couldn't ignore it. That's why—starting now—we're going to strike Eisenwald head-on."
With her bold declaration to attack the Dark Guild directly, Erza stood tall. Gray smirked in excitement.
It had been a while since a real fight showed up, and after endless boring jobs, the prospect of a high-level battle made his blood stir.
Lucy, on the other hand, still deeply regretted tagging along with such dangerous people—even if it had been at Mirajane's request.
Then she suddenly realized something.
"Wait… do we even know where Eisenwald is?"
"We'll find out here, in this town."
"U-uh… guys…?"
"What's wrong?"
"Natsu… Natsu's gone!"
He was gone.
Though he had been with them when they boarded the train, Natsu was now nowhere to be seen.
The three of them widened their eyes in realization.
They had been so preoccupied with getting off at the station that… they had forgotten Natsu on the train.
...
Inside the swaying train.
Natsu was slumped in his seat, groaning as motion sickness wracked his body.
"Haa… haaa… huff… ughh…"
"Hey, is this seat taken?"
A man approached the dizzy Natsu, but Natsu didn't have the strength to respond. Even trying to speak felt like it would send everything in his stomach flying out.
"Oho… you look rough. You alright?"
"Huff… huuuff…"
The man—Kageyama—sat across from him and spotted the Fairy Tail insignia on Natsu's shoulder.
"Fairy Tail, huh? A legal guild. Must be nice. You know, Mirajane from Fairy Tail is pretty famous. I've seen her in magazines—she's gorgeous. She used to be super powerful too, so why'd she stop being active? She's still young, right?"
"Huuuhhh…"
"But as famous as she is, there's someone else who used to make waves. 'Phantom Demon King' Ciel. That cold-blooded slaughterer who would storm into dark guilds and utterly destroy them so they could never rise again… After he died, Fairy Tail kinda stopped making headlines, huh?"
"Hrghh…"
"Hey! I'm talking to you—don't ignore me!"
"KAPH!"
Kageyama suddenly lashed out and kicked Natsu full force in the face.
Still woozy, Natsu didn't resist as Kageyama casually stepped on his head, now revealing his true nature with a malicious glare.
"I hate being ignored. That's guild discrimination."
"Agh?!"
Snapping back to reality, Natsu shoved Kageyama's foot off and finally responded.
While the kick hadn't hurt much, dealing with it while still dizzy from motion sickness had sent his head reeling.
"W-what the hell… was that for…?"
"Oh, you're finally talking! Haha!"
Seeing Natsu respond, Kageyama narrowed his eyes and smiled smugly.
"You know what we call Fairy Tail without the 'Phantom Demon King'? Flies. Just a bunch of weak, buzzing flies."
"Oh? Let's see you say that again."
Unable to hold back any longer, Natsu lit his fists ablaze.
But—
"Blegh!"
"Wahahaha! That's your magic?!"
Because of the motion sickness, Natsu couldn't muster any power. The fire fizzled out the moment it appeared.
Kageyama burst into laughter, then summoned a shadowy fist using his magic and drove it straight into Natsu's face.
The shadowy strike hit hard, and Natsu collapsed without even being able to resist.
"Ugh!"
"Ahahaha! Look at you now!"
"D-dammit… Huff… Wheeze…"
I'm gonna smash that smug face in, Natsu thought through gritted teeth.
Then suddenly—
"Huh…?"
The pounding in his head, the dizziness—it all vanished.
His stomach settled.
The train was still moving, same as before, but all the pain and nausea were simply gone—as if it had never been there.
He didn't know what changed, but what mattered now was clear: he had a score to settle.
Natsu jumped to his feet and clenched his fists, fire roaring to life.
"W-what the hell…?!"
"You were real cocky a second ago."
"D-don't come any closer…!"
"Time to pay you back."
WHAM.
A clean, satisfying impact rang through the train car.
With the full force of the Fire Dragon's Fist, Natsu sent Kageyama flying—right through his seat and to the end of the train car.
"Fly Swatter Punch!"
"Y-you bastard…"
"Huh? What's this?"
After knocking Kageyama across the cabin, Natsu noticed that his opponent's bag had spilled open in the aisle, its contents scattered.
Natsu glanced down absentmindedly and spotted a strange flute adorned with a skull inside Kageyama's bag. He tilted his head in confusion.
The moment Natsu leaned in for a better look, Kageyama lunged forward and shoved the flute deep into his coat.
"D-Don't look!!"
"Whoa?! You—what the hell?!"
"H-How dare you lay hands on Eisenwald! You think you'll get away with this, you filthy little fly?!"
"Oh? Want another punch?"
Natsu clenched his fists again, ready to fight, but the dizziness and headache from the motion sickness came rushing back.
"Ugh… this isn't good…"
He realized if the fight dragged on, he'd be the one losing.
So, without hesitation, Natsu grabbed his luggage from the rack and made his way to the window.
"Y-You're running away?!"
"No way! I've got your face memorized now! Trashing Fairy Tail like that… Next time we meet, it's outside—urp…!"
"H-Hey!!"
Kageyama tried to fire a spell, but it was too late.
Natsu had already smashed through the train window and jumped out.
Rushing to the shattered window, Kageyama looked out—just in time to see Natsu getting picked up by Erza and the others, who had arrived in a Magic Four-Wheeler.
If he started a full-on battle now, the whole plan would fall apart.
Pushing down his emotions in favor of the mission, Kageyama spat on the ground and began stuffing his belongings back into his bag.
"Damn annoying Fairy flies… Of all places to run into one… just my luck—huh?"
While packing, he suddenly noticed a white crow perched on Lullaby.
He scowled and waved it away.
He had never seen a white crow in his life, but it was unmistakably a crow.
Still, he had no time for distractions. The most important thing now was to deliver Lullaby to the rendezvous point.
Raising his arm, he shooed the bird off.
"Shoo! Shoo! Get out of here! Ugh, a white crow this time… Just my luck today…"
...
Oshibana Station, three stops away from Magnolia.
In a quiet corner of the busy station, a man held out his arm toward the sky.
The white crow swooped down and landed gently on his forearm.
"As expected… Eisenwald's rendezvous point is here. Lullaby is being brought to this location… so it seems."
The man wore a long white coat, white gloves and boots, and his face was obscured behind a featureless white mask. His hair was as white as snow.
As the crow perched on his arm, he gestured slightly—and the bird began to dissolve into mist.
That mist flowed into the man's body and vanished without a trace.
"Now then, let's get a few things ready before our guests arrive."
He turned and walked into the station, approaching the stationmaster.
"Excuse me."
"Hm? Can I help you?"
"Yes, I'd like to request your cooperation."
He reached into his pocket and showed the stationmaster a certain object.
The moment the stationmaster saw it, cold sweat poured down his face. He stood upright and saluted stiffly.
The nearby staff, seeing what the man had shown, also saluted in the same manner, their posture snapping to attention.
"A member of the Council… What brings you here…?"
"Yes. A terrorist attack will be taking place at this station shortly. Please evacuate all civilians immediately."
"W-What…?!"
The stationmaster turned pale with fear, his face frozen.
Smiling softly behind his mask, the man replied with an almost cheerful tone:
"Just as I said. Things are about to get very rough, so if you could move quickly, I'd greatly appreciate it."
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