Erza swallowed hard. This was another expression she hadn't seen on Kazu's face.
"What do you mean, run away?" She asked, taking a step back.
"I mean exactly what I said. Let's run away from this area. Away from the village, away from the town, away from this damned forest." His gaze wandered to the surroundings.
"...Away from this family."
Silence.
Erza didn't say anything for a few seconds. She just stared at Kazu, who was now looking at her.
"What about Gray and Erza?"
"Let's find them and run away. You don't need to do what Lucas said. He might not be directly involved, but he is still partly responsible for what happened to that village."
Erza frowned. "Let's say even if he is responsible, what about the town where Anne is headed? Without us, it's going to face the same fate as this village!" She raised her voice in the end.
Kazu flinched. Despite being at a considerable distance away from her, her voice still made him flinch.
"Why do you care? You don't even know them. We might die during this mission! Do you want that to happen?" Kazu also instinctively raised his voice.
"Why do I care..." Erza shifted her gaze to the armour she was wearing.
'He is right. I don't even know those people. Risking my life is dumb.'
'I should run away like I ran away from the tower.'
Erza stiffened at that thought. Running away was the most logical choice... yet, why didn't her heart even consider it?
"I...can't...run away", Erza said, uncertain.
She looked up at Kazu. He was looking at her with a frown.
"I can't run away." She repeated her words, this time with determination.
Kazu's frown only deepened. "Why? It seems you also know this is just illogical."
Erza took a deep breath. "I—I... have too many regrets. If I run away today, then I might not be able to face myself in the mirror again." Her tone cracked midway.
She looked at him right in the eye. "If not taking that regret might lead to death, then—"
"I will prefer death over that regret," Erza said in a tone of finality.
Looking at those half-despair, half-determined eyes felt like Kazu was looking at a mirror. 'Guess trauma runs deeply in our guild members.'
She then turned around, "I won't ask you or the others to join me in this battle. Just tell master about my decision." Erza started walking away.
"Wait." Erza felt a hand on her shoulder.
She turned around and felt her breathing stop.
Cyan coloured Ethernano covered Kazu, who had a crazed look on his face.
'His eyes...' Erza gulped. He... felt eerie.
Kazu's expression showed that not only was he feeling despair, but what overshadowed it was another emotion.
Fear.
Kazu was terrified. She would have labelled him as 'helpless' if not for the strong grip on her shoulder.
"I understand that you might regret this for your entire life. In fact, I think I am the only one who can best understand you, as I feel the same—
If I let you go now and you died... Then I won't be able to see myself in the mirror either. I might even..." Kazu didn't continue.
He didn't need to. His expression told Erza what needed to be said.
'He is more desperate than me.'
"So..."
Erza felt the pressure on her shoulder increasing.
"I must—"
Her hand instinctively went to the hilt of her sword.
"make sure that you won't leave."
CRUNCH
---
"What is with your magic reserves? Did you contract all the animals in the forest?" Gray asked, impaling an eagle with an ice spear.
Blood splattered on his body, but he didn't pay it any attention.
'Something is wrong. The ominous vibe is getting to my head. Those two should have confronted her parents by now. I need to hurry up.' Gray wondered about how strong this girl's parents would be.
"I could do this all day. Not even 10 per cent of reserves are gone." Tracy shouted, dodging an arrow.
'Where is that bear? I lost contact with it. I am almost at my limits.' She internally cursed.
She was around the same age as Gray, so why was the difference between their powers so large?
Not even 5 minutes had passed, yet the clearing had been piled with corpses of animals.
"Is that so? What a coincidence. Only 9 per cent of my magic reserves have been depleted. Guess, we are going to be doing this all day." Gray sighed, jumping as he dodged a python.
'ONLY 9 per cent? He has to be bluffing!'
Tracy's face didn't betray any emotion. However, internally, she was shocked.
She carefully examined his expression, but it didn't show any signs of deceit. If that was a lie, then he is a pretty good liar.
'At this rate, I might be the first one to go down.' Tracy's mood dipped. She had decided to take the weaker one as a hostage to end the battle without wasting any energy.
Yet, that plan had backfired somehow.
'How is he that strong?' Gray had not been fighting normal animals, but rather enhanced magic beasts.
Tracy's magic allowed her to not only control other animals but also enhance them. A normal magic beast is normally quite powerful, but when they are enhanced, their combat power increases to around 5 times.
Gray had been fighting not one, not two, but hundreds of these beasts in the last few minutes.
He was uninjured throughout.
'20 per cent of my Ethernano left. Should I retreat?' Just as Tracy was wondering whether to leave the battlefield, a change appeared.
"Finally...found you..." Cana appeared in the clearing from behind a tree, her breathing rough as she panted.
'This is it! I will take that girl as hostage. The bear was too far away from me to enhance to the limit, unlike these, which would be several times stronger than that bear.' Tracy immediately sent animals nearby to capture Cana. This was the only way for her to change the tide of the battle.
Cana's eyes widened.
A horned rabbit charged at her from her front. Its horn pointed at her gut.
A monkey wielding a branch came from behind, thrusting the branch at her neck.
Cana felt tremors from the ground. She jumped up.
The next second, a massive 6-foot snake erupted from the ground, its mouth opened—intending to swallow Cana, who was mid-air.
Cana felt the three's bloodlust pointed at her, stiffening her momentarily. However, she quickly pulled out a card from under her sleeve.
"Icicle barrage." The card turned into nothingness before several magic circles appeared around Cana.
Down, behind her and in the front.
Next instant, a barrage of icicles erupted from those circles.
Due to the suddenness of it, all three animals were caught off guard.
Just like that, the ambushers got ambushed.
"She can use ice-magic!?" Tracy yelled in surprise.
"She can do more than that." She heard the voice from behind her before feeling a cool touch on her exposed neck.
"What—" Before she could do anything, ice erupted on her body, encasing her.
A rectangular ice-box appeared where she once stood. Her figure was visible from outside, along with her shocked face.
All the animals paused momentarily. Their eyes are clearing up—in clarity. A wave of weakness passed through their body.
Then, they became aware of the surroundings.
THUMP THUMP THUMP
They bolted away from the field.
"Where were you?" Gray asked, walking towards Cana.
"Just flown away. I had to fight a scary bear, and I beat him in one punch. The surroundings were demolished. You should have seen that. I made that move— 4-hit KO on spot. Like a protagonist from a fairy tale. Super cool and all." Cana said, lifting her head, her nose pointing at the sky.
"Uh, oh..." Gray only understood half of what she said. So, he just gave the usual reaction he gives us.
He deadpanned.
"Also, did you see how I ambushed those 3 animals instantly? They didn't see that coming. Did I look cool?"
"Nope. That attack was so slow. If not for it being an ambush, even a crawling baby would have dodged it." Gray snorted.
His mind went back to the scene. 'She wasn't affected by the bloodlust, guess her training with Kazu did pay off. Luckily, due to that, I didn't have to interfere and could capture that girl.'
He looked at the Tracy, now-trapped in ice.
"Let's wake up that mayor. He should at least do a good job of taking her away to the town." Gray said, before walking towards the knocked-out Mayor at a distance.
'I wonder why she didn't use this guy as a hostage. Did she already know that I won't care about him?' Gray wondered before crouching.
He poked the guy before shoving him.
No response.
Slap!
He slapped him.
No response.
Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!
So, he started quickly slapping both of the guy's cheeks.
"Aaah! Am I in hell?" The man soon woke up.
Gray soon explained the situation.
"Who would have thought that such an innocent-looking girl was like this?"
'It was me... and Kazu too.' Gray deadpanned.
"Don't worry, kids, I will take her away." With that, the man started pulling the ice block away with her.
'I hope he doesn't break the ice and free her while transporting her... Whatever, not my problem.' Gray then turned to Cana.
Cana looked at him. Then she blinked.
"Fuck! I forgot why I was looking for you. Cana and Erza! We need to find them quickly!" She yelled right in Gray's ears.
---
Blood stained the ground. Several broken swords lay on the ground.
"I wasn't expecting this." Kazu weakly said, lying on the ground, his breathing rough.
Erza stood in front of him, her expression hidden by her scarlet hair.
***
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