Within the Ring Domain, beside the lake—
Natsu was sitting with Happy, fishing idly, staring at the calm surface of the water. All of a sudden, he felt a chill run down his spine and hunched his shoulders instinctively.
A slender hand, carrying a sharp gust of wind, came striking toward him.
The fist missed, but the attacker instantly shifted stance—her elbow dropping down in a brutal arc. This time, Natsu wasn't quick enough to dodge.
Bang!
The elbow cracked against his skull with a crisp sound. Natsu instantly went stiff like a puppet, toppling over flat onto the ground.
Lucy's heart jumped into her throat.
"El—Erza!" she cried.
But the second she called out, her stomach sank. She's here to drag us back, isn't she? …It has to be that!
"Ugh, I really shouldn't have let myself get dragged into this by Natsu in the first place…"
The scarlet-haired girl cast a sideways glance toward Lucy's position. Her voice was calm, but sharp.
"Lucy."
It was like standing before a commanding officer. Lucy's body snapped straight, her muscles tense, arms pressed to her sides, chest raised.
"Y-Yes, ma'am!"
Her nerves were stretched taut. She shut her eyes, ready for the storm of punishment she was sure was about to hit.
But instead, Erza's tone unexpectedly softened. She bowed her head ever so slightly.
"Apologies. That idiot Natsu has caused you trouble."
Lucy froze, stunned. She had braced herself for judgment, not an apology. The whiplash left her wide-eyed, her pupils shrinking into little black dots.
"Ha…haiii?"
"I'll be sure to discipline him properly, so he learns what happens when he acts recklessly."
"E-ehh, i-it's fine! I-I was at fault too, for following Natsu's nonsense." Lucy waved her hands like a windmill, eyes darting everywhere. No way was she about to admit she'd been tempted by the reward money.
No—that absolutely could not come out.
"Tch, flame-brain. How can you drop so easily?" Gray crouched down, poking Natsu's body with an ice spear.
"The hell you say, you damn snow-cone!" Natsu's eyes snapped open. He swung a fist upward, smacking Gray square in the face.
The punch landed—and immediately Natsu regretted it. His whole body turned stiff as he slowly, painfully rotated his head to face behind him.
Erza was standing right there.
Natsu swallowed hard. To him, she looked like a demon—long crimson hair billowing, black energy boiling out behind her, her face veiled in shadow. The image of a wrathful queen of darkness.
Cold sweat dripped down his temple as he forced a greeting.
"H-hey there, Erza…"
Thankfully, Erza didn't seem interested in punishing him right away. Instead, her gaze turned toward Pai Pai, though she frowned faintly. She knew how hard she'd hit—Natsu should've been out cold for a while. There was no way he should have been up already.
"Damn sharp-eyed bastard!" Natsu relaxed a little, but before he could celebrate, an ice spear slammed him aside, Gray's fist cloaked in magic as the two of them crashed together.
Dust and smoke billowed up, shrouding the scene as the two boys scuffled violently.
Pai Pai watched the pair with amused interest, then turned to Lucy.
"Shall we continue the interview? Or end it here?"
The question snapped Lucy back to focus. She shot a nervous glance at Erza.
Erza hesitated, then gave Pai Pai a long look before leaning casually against a tree.
"You're the elder here, Master. It's up to you."
"Then let's continue. The guild already has enough S-Class missions that no one can handle. The fewer, the better."
Lucy flashed Pai Pai a grateful look. He pretended not to notice, keeping his expression strictly professional.
"Alright then, let's pick up where we left off."
"Master, earlier you said your ability is one thought made real—and that it can't be stopped, right?" Lucy scribbled notes quickly into her journal.
"You could phrase it that way."
"But… is it really that it can't be stopped? Or have you simply not yet found the proper method? Like how Canis Minor's key can't open Taurus's gate—it's not that the gate is unopenable, just that the wrong key was used. With the right one, it works." Lucy explained eagerly.
"You have no proof."
"No—I think I do." Lucy's voice rose with conviction, surprising even herself. It grew so firm that Natsu, Gray, and Erza all turned to look at her. Three sharp gazes pinned her down, and she wilted a little.
"…Or at least, there should be a way."
"Go on."
"Master, let me be clear—this is only a theory. I'm not saying it's guaranteed." Lucy faltered a little under Erza's lingering stare.
"Speak."
"Since your thoughts alone can manifest reality… why not use your ability to create a method to help yourself? Or use it to find an existing method? Basically, to will the very solution into existence…"
Lucy waved her hands around, searching for words, her pen dangling loosely between her fingers.
Erza was the first to break off her gaze, while Gray and Natsu just kept wrestling in the background.
"…Your idea is interesting. But your understanding of my ability is incomplete." Pai Pai didn't mock her, though. His emotions had long ago been pared down, purified to avoid distraction.
"The power of 'one thought made real' is based on my perception. I can envision an object, describe it as a god, or as a world—but such descriptions are vague, ambiguous. They lack precision. And so, the results are uncertain."
A small orb of light, the size of a fist, appeared before him. It shifted into a fireball, then into a water sphere, then vanished entirely—its form ever-changing.
"If I think, I should have a ball… what kind of ball? A water ball? A fireball? A planet? Even I don't know until it takes shape. It might be random. It might reflect subconscious thoughts."
Lucy prodded the floating orb lightly with her pen, still frowning in thought.
"If I think, I want a method that can help me—but I can't describe it clearly, don't know its mechanism, or even if it objectively exists—then that method is entirely fabricated by my power. Built from my imagination. In that case, am I being 'helped'? Or am I just controlling myself through myself?"
Lucy understood. But she felt he was missing her original intent. So she tried again:
"What I meant, Master, is… could you use your power not to create such a method, but to discover one that already exists? Like—if you want to know someone's secret, then you simply will yourself to know it. Not inventing it, but uncovering it."
"…Lucy, your perspective is clever. But you still haven't grasped my point. Chaos Magic's 'thought made real' is a distortion ability. It has limits. Its effect comes from me. If I manifest a tool that doesn't align with objective laws, then my power alone sustains it.
"And because I don't know those laws in the first place, I end up twisting them instead. As for your example, say I wish to know someone's secret. But if I can't define it clearly, if I lack any alternative method of determining it…
"Then the result is dictated by my own belief. If I believe his secret is simply that he can breathe… then that will become his 'secret.' To the point he may even lose the ability to breathe openly in front of others."
Lucy traced his words back through her mind and realized she'd cornered herself into a dead end. She could argue more—perhaps propose using magic to craft a machine that bypasses these flaws—but that only led to another infinite loop.
And in truth, she couldn't expect to unravel all the intricacies of Pai Pai's Chaos Magic just for an article.
…Alright then. Let's move on to the next question.