Thump
Kazu plunged one of Erza's swords into Anne's chest after he had cuffed one of her hands with the magic-depriving cuffs.
"You won't be able to regenerate now, would you?" Anne felt her body go weak. She tried to move her hand towards the cuff to remove it, but her hands felt like lead. Heavy.
She glanced at Kazu, whose body language screamed caution, as if half-expecting her to turn the situation somehow around.
However, his face was at odds with his body language.
He had a mocking look on his face.
"I haven't met anybody as experienced as you, other than the master. Moreover, I have a feeling that you weren't at your peak. With your powers, having an entire army of more powerful creatures wouldn't have been a problem. I wonder what happened in the past." Orange Ethernano surrounded Kazu as he said it.
A dark look appeared on Anne's face, which disappeared as soon as it came.
"That's impressive and all, but... Is it all that it takes to kill you? One little girl?"
Anne's eyes widened. 'That's what I said to him before.'
Looking at the revengeful look on Kazu's face, Anne felt annoyance. 'I am not going to let him have the satisfaction during my last moments.'
Anne didn't show any reaction as her body fell on the ground.
Kazu crouched near her and whispered such that the next words could be heard only by her.
"You wanted to raise Tracy to be somebody suitable to become one of 12, no? In the Alvarez Empire?"
Anne's eyes widened as she turned her head to Kazu, who had a smile on his face.
He gleefully said, "I am going to make sure that she won't ever join that, even if that's the last thing I would do." His Ethernano turned light yellow as he looked at the despair-filled look on Anne's face.
"N—No," Anne said, feeling her life force ending. She only had a few seconds more to live.
Kazu didn't say anything, but just brightly smiled as she looked at the despair-filled face.
'Who said revenge feels empty and hollow? Who was it? Why do I feel so happy?' Kazu thought. For the first time in his life, he was feeling this happy.
"Please don't. Please... Did you expect me to react like this?" Anne smirked.
Kazu jumped back, half-expecting an attack.
"Hahaha... How funny. Do you think she has the potential to reach the level of those monsters? Guess, your information source isn't that accurate."
Kazu's Ethernano stilled along with him.
'Did I get it wrong? Was this not her goal?' Though Kazu didn't know Anne in detail, with his meta knowledge and whatever he knew about her, he made a pretty solid hypothesis.
At least that's what Kazu thought until now.
"I like that confused expression on your face. People are not as simple as you make them to be." Anne's words pierced through Kazu's internal ramblings.
Kazu looked at her with a frown.
"Make that a life lesson when you look back to this moment for years to come."
Kazu's eyes twitched. "Is that so? Then what was your goal? You are dying. Might as well enlighten this junior."
Anne's expression stilled for a second. She then smiled. Not a crazed smile, not a smirk, not one with some intentions—just a genuine smile.
This took Kazu off guard. Seeing such a pure smile on a person who was far from pure made Kazu feel dissonance.
"What's the fun in that? You will find out eventually. You just need to know this—More or less… I've done what I came to do. That's enough for me."
Her lips curved into a faint smile, then stilled.
Kazu waited. One breath. Two.
Nothing. No rise of her chest. No flicker in her eyes.
Anne Roadwalker's path ended there.
Kazu felt his gut twist. 'What do you mean by that? Did she say she accomplished her goal? This has to be a lie. Just to make me cautious and whatnot. This has to be a bluff.' Kazu hoped in his heart.
He turned to his instincts to confirm his hypothesis.
His instincts... said nothing.
For the first time since Kazu became aware of his magic, he felt this clueless. Generally, he could get some clue or some hint about such, at worst.
However, now, his instincts themselves weren't sure anymore what to make of this situation.
'...Uh, whatever. A threat is gone. Our mission is ov—' Kazu's breath suddenly hitched.
"What the fuck…" He bit his tongue to make sure it wasn't a dream—not some cruel joke.
On Anne's back, half-hidden beneath torn cloth, was a faint emblem. The ink was smudged, weathered by time, but the shape was unmistakable.
A guild mark.
His guild mark.
Fairy Tail.
Kazu's stomach dropped. His mind scrambled for explanations—fake? a trick?—but before the thought could settle, a cry cut through him.
"MOM!" Tracy's voice cracked as she stumbled toward the body. Tears streamed down her face.
One second her mother killed her father, and the next second her mother was plunged into the chest.
"Mom! Wake up! Wake up," her throat was raw, fingers slipped on blood.
She loved Lucas more than Anne. However, currently, only Anne has a chance to be alive. Unfortunately, she was far from being alive.
"Not you too..."
Kazu felt quite uncomfortable as he looked at the scene. 'From what Gray told me, she was quite mindful about not killing anybody. She had multiple chances to kill the mayor, but she didn't. Moreover, Gray had even given her multiple fake attempts, which were perfect for fatal blows, yet she didn't take them. It seems Lucas wasn't lying.'
Kazu looked around.
Erza had a complicated expression as she looked at the scene.
Gray, who didn't know exactly what Anne had done, had a guilty expression.
Cana, on the other hand, felt several emotions. It was her first time seeing somebody taking a human life, unlike the other two.
"It's YOUR FAULT! If you haven't taken this mission." Gray took a step back. He was the one who had been annoying the master to give him a mission outside Magnolia.
"If you haven't tried to interfere and would have retreated!" Erza flinched. She was the one who had insisted and even went against Kazu to do this.
"If you haven't—"
"If I haven't killed her and let her kill me? Let her kill my friends? Let her kill the townspeople like the villagers? Just like how she killed your father?" Tracy flinched.
"Wait, what about the villagers?" Gray muttered in shock.
He glanced at Erza, who didn't meet his gaze.
"No way... So all those creatures that I killed were..." Bile rose in his throat as he vomited.
Cana had a similar expression. However, she didn't vomit. Her expression was more shocked than disgusted.
"It doesn't matter." Tracy's eyes darken. She didn't want to look at the logic. Most of what Kazu said was true, but she didn't care about either his life or the villagers.
Her arm transformed into a pointed sword as she lunged at Kazu.
THUD
Only to be stopped by an invisible barrier.
"Stop it. It's useless."
THUD THUD THUD
She didn't stop. Both of her hands transformed as she assaulted the barrier, trying to break it.
Thud.
Suddenly, Kazu punched her in the gut, sending her flying for a few meters.
Tracy skidded on the ground for a few meters before stopping.
She looked at Kazu with hate.
'She has lost all reason... Or maybe not. I would do the same if I were in her shoes. Logic or not.' Kazu could sympathise with her situation.
'Still, it's pretty weird that the anger is the first thing that comes when somebody loses everything? Or was I the weird one?' Kazu thought as he looked at Tracy, who was doing everything to break the barrier.
"Stop it. This would get us nowhere. If you want revenge, come find me when you become stronger. I will let you go as I sympathise with you."
'Normally, I don't like keeping loose ends and would prefer if she were dead. Unfortunately, my mental health these days is not good. I don't want to have the guilt of killing a child on my conscience.' Kazu briefly glanced at his teammates.
'Moreover, these guys are watching. Can't go against the guild values.' Kazu is not as innocent as he appears to be. His hands are dyed with the blood of many people.
He had lied to Cana when he said that his killing intent was due to killing animals. If that were the case, then all hunters or butchers would have the ability to wield killing intent.
Tracy's body trembled. She couldn't believe that her mother's killer could humiliate her like this after just killing her.
She clenched her fist as she took a deep breath. 'I need to be calm. Like how dad always was. Running away is the best option.' Her mind was in full agreement, but her heart wasn't.
"One day, I'll take from you what you took from me. Not just you—everyone you care about." Tracy said before turning back and running.
'Everyone you care about.'
The words thundered in Kazu's skull.
'Everyone you care about.'
Cana's laughter. Gray's smirk. Erza's serious attitude. Makarov's warmth.
'Everyone you care about.'
Anne's minions' blades digging into the screaming girl.
The two sets of images wouldn't separate. They twisted together, merging until he couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.
His breath came too sharply. His hands curled into claws. The Ethernano around him rippled, the blue trembling as if under strain.
CRACK
Black started seeping at the edges.
CRACK
Large amounts of Ethernano burst out of Kazu's body.
CRACK
Little by little, the colour blackened until the blue was gone.
"I see." Kazu fully processed her words.
His eyes went hollow. Thought, restraint, even grief—burned away.
All emotions ceased to exist except one.
Hate.
Pure unfiltered hate.
Kazu slowly bent down and pulled the sword out from Anne's chest.
He then stood up and looked in the direction where Tracy had disappeared.
Tracy was already out of sight. But that wasn't a problem for Kazu.
He could sense her.
His instincts could.
And that was enough.
Kazu pulled his arm back.
Black Ethernano covered the sword along with Kazu's arm before—
his arm moved.
'Hmm?'
Black Ethernano flickered as Kazu realised that his arm had suddenly stopped.
Before he could throw the sword, it was already plunged into something.
Kazu shifted his attention and realised what it was.
There stood Cana with the sword plunged in her chest.
***
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