'Why are they going to fight? Erza doesn't seem the type to be dumb, let alone Kazu?'
Cana's cards had told her that the two would be fighting. Not only that, another card told her that their situation is dire, which made her believe that it's highly likely that the outcome of the fight would be dire.
'Guess, I was wrong. They must have been in a dire situation before having that fight, or maybe the situation was dire after they fought.' She thought as she and Gray met up with the duo.
"She was wrong about that village being sacrificed, right?" At Gray's question, Erza flinched. It didn't go unnoticed by Cana.
'Does this mean Kazu's lying? I really can't tell.' Cana shifted her gaze between Kazu and Erza, the latter trying her best to look "normal." Unfortunately, Cana would have been blind if she believed her acting.
Cana's gaze met Kazu's.
'He knows that I know he is lying.' She thought as she broke eye contact, shifting her attention back to Erza.
'But, why is he lying? Just what happened in the village?' Cana wondered as multiple possibilities popped up in her head. Each worse than the previous.
'I am getting a headache just thinking about it.' Cana instantly stopped hypothesising and noticed that Erza was looking at her with a panicked expression.
'Did she notice that I was staring at her?' Cana instantly changed the subject and told Kazu about the new technique she created from his magic.
"I never thought you could forget something like this, given your being always super paranoid." Cana suspiciously looked at Kazu.
There was a pause before Kazu changed the subject. 'Just what happened at the village?' Cana's curiosity was at its peak. However, she knew that there must be a reason why Kazu and Erza were hiding this, so she didn't speak.
Kazu started explaining about the artefacts and their plan.
"And with this cuff, I am going to capture her."
"From where did you get this?" Cana asked, touching the cuff. She felt the connection between the Ethernano and herself reducing.
"Just got in the basement of their residence."
"Oh—BASEMENTS? They had basements?" Cana's eyes turned into stars as she held Kazu's shoulder and shook him.
"Not basements. Just one basement." Kazu rolled his eyes.
Cana furrowed her brows, "What's with that lukewarm reaction? You don't like basements?" Cana looked at his blank face before looking at the other two.
"It was dark." Erza shrugged.
"So childish." Gray shook his head.
"You guys are just boomers." Cana pouted before looking away.
Soon, their plan started, and Kazu impaled Anne.
'That wasn't part of the plan...' Cana thought as she activated the artefact and concentrated the Ethernano in her fist. She didn't think she would actually be needed.
Her eyes widened as Kazu almost died next instant. Anne was alive!
'Don't tell me... Did this mean what he meant by distraction?' Cana swung her fist at Anne from her hidden spot, dozens of metres away from Anne.
Then, Gray was taken hostage. However, with Lucas's arrival, he was saved.
Cana's face turned into horror as Lucas's body wrinkled before turning into bones, and Anne regenerating at a rapid speed.
The next moments were a blur. Kazu put the cuff on Anne. However, he didn't stop there. He plunged Erza's sword into her chest, effectively killing her.
'He looks happier than the time during his birthday celebration.' Cana felt as if something had punched her in the gut.
Looking at Kazu's expression while talking to dying Anne made her feel conflicted.
However, as if the moment itself was fragile, it disappeared with Kazu's face turning shocked.
'Did she not die?' Cana mentally prepared herself, despite her emotions; however, it was a false alarm as Anne didn't move.
"Not you too..."
Cana felt several emotions as she looked at Tracy. 'Is this the reason he hid the part of killing her? Or was that the change he made after Gray was threatened?'
One part of Cana agreed somewhat with Kazu; however, the other part, the Fairy Tail part, disagreed with Kazu's actions. Master always says to keep the killing as a last resort, and Cana felt that Kazu's actions weren't justifiable.
Tracy soon started accusing them.
"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?" Kazu shut Tracy off with his reply.
Gray was too shocked, and Erza didn't meet anyone's eyes, so they missed Kazu's mumble.
'And let her torture more 4-year-olds?'
Cana felt that she had read his lips wrong. 'That can't be... right?... I need to ask him later.'
The next moments were a blur for Cana as the previous statement kept echoing in her mind.
"Not just you—everyone you care about."
'The fuck?'
Cana felt her whole body stiffen. She looked at Kazu's Ethernano, dyeing the world around him black.
'I thought I had already seen him angry.' Cana thought that she had seen everything today. From Kazu smiling while being angry to Kazu smiling while being happy.
However, she didn't think she would be surprised again.
Kazu's expression... Pure Hatred.
It was just not his expression, but rather the Ethernano leaking from him.
A primal fear rose inside her heart as she recognised this feeling.
Killing Intent.
'I am not even the target, yet I already feel like this.' Despite being dozens of metres away from him, Cana felt an invisible pressure tying her down. Her knees buckled as the surrounding Ethernano exerted pressure on her.
She glanced around and found Gray and Erza to be in a similar position.
Cana had never felt such a killing intent. Even Anne didn't have such killing intent.
'Wait! Now that I look back, she didn't leak any killing intent during this encounter, even though she almost killed Gray and Kazu. Weird.' Cana shifted her attention back to Kazu.
'He doesn't look like the same person anymore.' She felt scared.
Kazu then looked at Erza's sword. Just then, Cana knew what was going to happen next.
'I am not going to let that happen.' Cana bit her tongue hard.
The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth as she willed her entire body to move.
Click.
Her right foot lifted off the ground, followed by the muscles in the left leg responding to her.
Just like that, she dashed to Kazu.
'Though she did give away a big threat, it doesn't warrant death. She didn't even try to kill anybody.' Cana had not noticed it the first time, but after Gray's absurd remark, she realised that the bear was intending to capture her, not outright kill her.
The pressure on Cana's body increased as she moved towards Kazu. However, she didn't stop.
Cana finally made way to Kazu, as she stood in front of him.
'He will stop, rig—' The sword pierced through Cana's chest.
She blinked.
"Damn. You didn't really stop, did you? Guess you were out of your mind." Cana felt her entire body go weak.
Black Ethernano started flickering.
"N—No." Clarity returned to Kazu as he realised what he had just done.
His Ethernano turned from black to cyan.
He slowly pulled the sword out. "Ugh."
Kazu stopped.
He quickly lay Cana on the ground as he snapped to the other two. "Y—You two should still have that healing paper, right?" His words didn't break despite the desperation etched on his face.
Before waiting for their reply, he quickly put his hand inside Cana's waist bag and brought out a paper.
He then activated it while slowly pulling the sword out.
"Why the fuck did you come in front of me?" Kazu muttered, grabbing the two papers the other two gave.
He quickly used the artefact.
'Luckily, the damage went to her right lung instead of her heart.' Kazu could hear his whole heart beating like crazy.
"You were out of your mind. I needed to stop you so that you won't regret it later."
"I wouldn't have any regrets even if you didn't stop me." Kazu's words came out louder than he had intended them to be.
Erza and Gray flinched due to his loudness.
Cana didn't have any change in expression. "Is that so? Well, I would have regrets if I hadn't stopped you today."
Just after she said that, the other two magic artefacts stopped giving out light and turned into nothing.
Cana... still had a hole in her chest.
"N—No... This can't happen." Kazu's voice finally broke. Tears bubbled up in his eyes as he realised that they didn't have anything to stop Cana from dying.
"No way... This is a lie, right?" Gray's face was full of disbelief. He had just heard the brutal fate of the village, and before he could properly process that, one of his close friends was killed by his other friend.
"You will wake up, right? This is a prank, right?" Gray continued.
"Shut it down. Stop being childish." Cana rolled her eyes. Internally, she was feeling the fear of death, and it was scary.
Erza's face was resigned. As if this wasn't the first time she had experienced this.
'There must be a way, right? If I dash to the town... What about trying to go to that town?..." Despite the tears streaming down his face, along with his body being still, Kazu's mind was anything but still. He was continuously trying to find a way to save Cana.
'If only I hadn't used that pendant.' The only thing artifact that could save Cana was already used.
"I think my biggest regret was that I didn't muster enough courage to tell my dad about my existence." Cana had a sad smile as she said this.
"Your dad?" Gray kneeled beside her. Tears were bubbling in his eyes.
"Yeah. You know, the only S-rank besides Master in the guild." Cana felt her vision darken. Her mind became sleepy... losing the grip of reality.
"What?"
"Too loud... Lemme sleep... Guess this isn't that bad way to..." Cana went limp.
"CANA!" Gray shouted.
"WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" Gray shook her as tears flowed down.
Kazu's attention was snapped back to reality. He looked at Gray and then at Cana.
His face went pale. "no..."
Erza's hair hid her expression. The sight was too much for her to bear, so she turned back and looked in the other direction.
Looking at the distance, she noticed something.
Her eyes widened.
***
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