"What... what is this?!"
Gray was astonished to see Qi Yan conjure a boat. Gray had naturally seen Qi Yan in this form before; his powerful Flame Magic was even stronger than Natsu's.
But he had never heard that Qi Yan also knew Spatial Magic.
"It's a small boat! Don't you recognize it?"
"No... I certainly recognize a boat... The problem is, how did this boat appear?"
"A boat? Of course, it was materialized."
Qi Yan had known this when he first used Take Over Magic. He could materialize the equipment owned by anime characters, like Tsugikuni Yoriichi's Nichirin Blade or Whitebeard's Murakumogiri, by consuming magic power.
"Materialize? Don't you use Take Over Magic? How do you also know Materialization Magic?"
Gray looked at Qi Yan in disbelief, while also getting onto the boat. Since the front of the boat was a single seat, he could only stand behind the propulsion port, gripping the mast.
"I use Take Over Magic, and this small boat is also the original equipment of the character I materialized, Ace, who is a pirate!"
Ace's single-person speedboat was one of his commonly used pieces of equipment. A few months ago, he took on an S-rank mission to eliminate ten major pirate crews, and he used this very boat to defeat those pirates, earning him the famous title 'Flame Emperor'.
"Hold on tight! We're off!"
Gray was a little unclear about what Qi Yan meant by his words, but he soon understood.
Whoosh—!!
Qi Yan's hands were in his pockets, and flames erupted from his feet.
Immediately after, flames shot out from the rear and left propulsion ports, creating a terrifying thrust. With a ninety-degree drift, the speedboat shot forward at high speed.
"Ah ah ah ah ah!! Fast! Too fast—!!"
Gray clutched the mast with both hands, his whole body swaying like a flag, screaming in terror.
After about twenty minutes, Qi Yan and Gray arrived at Galuna Island.
Gray's face was pale. He had never ridden such an exhilarating boat in his life. The boat's speed was simply too fast; a journey that would normally take at least four or five hours, Qi Yan completed in less than twenty minutes.
After the two of them landed, Qi Yan, with a thought, released his Take Over form, and the small boat disappeared.
"According to the request form, the client is in a village on this island. The village chief is the client for this mission, so let's go find the village first."
Qi Yan and Gray searched for the village together. The village wasn't hard to find; there was a path in the woods, and following it straight led to the village.
The two quickly arrived in front of the village. It looked like a primitive tribal village, surrounded by tall wooden walls to prevent wild beasts from attacking.
At this moment, the village gate was tightly shut, and several large characters were written on it: "No Entry."
"No Entry, what's going on with this village?"
"Is anyone there? Can you open the gate?"
Gray stepped forward and shouted loudly.
Inside the village, Natsu and the others were startled by the sound.
"Gray!!!"
Everyone immediately panicked a little.
"What's happening?! Why is Gray here?!"
"I don't know! He's not here to drag us back, is he?!"
"Isn't this too fast?!"
They had secretly snuck out just last night. They had barely entered here when the other party came looking for them.
A village guard asked from below, "Who are you?!"
"We are Mages from Fairy Tail. Have you seen a small blue cat, a blonde girl, and a very conspicuous cherry-pink haired, extremely annoying, and ill-tempered guy pass through?"
Natsu gnashed his teeth in anger upon hearing Gray describe him like that: "That bastard Gray! Underwear thief!"
He quickly told the village chief, "Shh~! Don't say you've seen us. He's here to drag us back, and if we get caught, then no one will be able to help you lift the curse."
Hearing this, the village chief immediately shook his head, signaling the guard.
"No... we haven't seen them!"
"Then can you let us into the village? It's getting late, and we'd like to rest here for the night."
"No... you can't! This village doesn't welcome outsiders!"
"I see! Then we'll leave."
Hearing Gray say they would leave, Natsu and the others couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Suddenly!
Boom—!!!
The village gate exploded.
"Waaahhh!!!"... Everyone was startled.
A mature man's voice echoed from the smoke: "Did you think we would just leave like that?"
"This... this voice..."
"No... no way..."
Hearing this voice, Natsu and the others immediately felt their hair stand on end.
Soon, everyone clearly saw the appearance of the person at the entrance.
Black hair and black eyes, a black T-shirt, Gray pants, and black old-man shoes, looking utterly unremarkable.
But it was this very appearance that made Natsu and the others scream in terror, as if they had seen some terrifying monster—no, a monster more terrifying than any monster.
"Qi Yan!!!"
The village chief and villagers were also somewhat panicked at this moment, quickly hiding and secretly looking in their direction.
Creak! Creak!
Qi Yan stepped over the shattered gate fragments and walked into the village.
"Yo! Mission thieves? Good evening!"
Qi Yan said with a slight smile.
"Eek—!!!"
But to Natsu and the others, that smile was even more terrifying than a devil's.
Gray alone was one thing; normally, Gray and Natsu's fights were evenly matched. But Qi Yan was different; he was a complete and utter monster.
The most crucial thing was that the form Qi Yan was in now, the 'Tyrant' form, was said to be his most brutal state. It was rumored that in this form, Qi Yan had beaten everyone in the entire guild, and Natsu and Gray apparently couldn't get out of bed for three days.
Although Lucy hadn't seen Qi Yan beat up the guild members, she had witnessed Qi Yan in this form destroy the entire Iron Forest guild.
Lucy and Happy hugged each other, trembling all over. Natsu wasn't much better, involuntarily stepping back, his body constantly shaking.
"Qi... Qi... Qi Yan..."
"Qi Yan, it wasn't my fault! Natsu and Lucy forced me to do it!"
Happy was the first to buckle under the pressure, immediately choosing to betray them. Lucy hadn't seen it, but Happy had; Qi Yan in his 'Tyrant' form was the most terrifying.
Seeing Happy's behavior, Lucy immediately couldn't help but retort, "Traitor cat!!"
Gray advised, "You guys are really bold, daring to sneak out to do an S-rank mission. The old man sent me to bring you back. It's still not too late to go back now, otherwise, you'll be kicked out of the guild. Let's go back."
Natsu forced himself to suppress his fear: "No!! Qi Yan! No matter what, I must do an S-rank mission!"
Bang!
"Whoa!!!"
As soon as Natsu finished speaking, he was sent flying.
Boom boom boom!!
Natsu's body smashed through several houses.
Qi Yan appeared where Natsu had just been, using his pinky finger to pick his ear: "Hmm? What did you just say? I didn't quite catch it. Could you say it again?"