A dark purple magic bomb! Carrying Yuka's final frenzied fluctuation! It tore through the air! Straight towards Gray and that Gray-blue Slime! Destructive energy, unreleased! Yet it already warped space! The shadow of death instantly loomed!
"Never!!!"
A furious roar, like thunder, exploded! Erza's figure vanished from her spot! Requip magic light flashed! "Requip! Heart Kreuz Cloth!"
The golden light dissipated! Erza, clad in a flowing white robe, moved with extreme speed! Arriving before the bomb, she instantly blocked its path! In her hand was not a greatsword, but a gigantic cross spear, wreathed in holy light!
"Holy Spear - Exorcism and Righteousness!!!"
The tip of the cross spear erupted with pure, incomparable purifying holy light! Like dawn piercing through eternal night! It precisely struck the core of the incoming magic bomb!
Hiss—!!!
Holy light and destructive purple glow annihilated each other furiously! Emitting an ear-splitting shriek! The bomb's core trembled violently! The unstable energy within was forcibly neutralized by the holy light! The detonation process was abruptly interrupted!
But the pulverizing wave Yuka had injected at the end was not completely offset! Like a venomous snake, it bypassed the spear tip! And slammed fiercely into Erza's chest!
Bang!!!
Erza was hit hard! The light of her Heart Kreuz Cloth dimmed! She grunted, a trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth! Her body was sent flying backward! The cross spear slipped from her hand!
And the magic bomb, though momentarily blocked and not exploded, still carried residual kinetic energy! It slammed towards Gray!
"Ice Block Man!" Natsu roared! His entire body's flames compressed to the extreme! He recklessly lunged forward! Using his body to shove Gray away!
Boom!!!
The bomb struck Natsu's back! The residual destructive energy and impact force erupted! Natsu's protective flames instantly dissipated! His back was scorched black! Blood splattered! He was fiercely blasted away, holding Gray, and rolled onto the ground!
"Natsu! Gray!" Lucy's heart was torn with fear! She rushed towards the two!
"Aye!" Happy flew over in a hurry.
Yuka watched this scene, laughing maniacally: "Hahaha... together... perish... ugh!" His laughter abruptly ceased. An ice spear silently pierced his heart. Gray, lying in Natsu's arms, struggled to raise his hand, the cold light still in his eyes.
Yuka's pupils dilated, a twisted smile on his face, as he slowly fell to the ground, completely dead.
The ruins temporarily returned to a deathly silence. Only the Deliora ice sculpture emitted a chilling aura.
"Natsu! Gray!" Lucy knelt beside them. Natsu's back was a bloody mess, and he was disoriented. Gray's face was ashen, the backlash from Absolute Zero Stasis combined with the bomb's impact, adding injury upon injury.
"Individual name: Natsu Dragneel... severe back trauma... internal organ concussion... magic power disorder... unconscious..."
"Individual name: Gray Fullbuster... life force overdrawn... Absolute Zero Stasis backlash deeply entrenched... severely injured..." Christian's faint voice once again emanated from the Gray-blue gelatinous mass at Lucy's feet!
The core re-illuminated with an extremely dim, yet stubbornly unextinguished, faint glow! "Core... restart... complete... status: minimum power..."
"Christian! You're alive!" Lucy was both surprised and delighted, tears welling up again.
"Barely... maintaining..." The core flickered. "Prioritize... treating... injured..."
Lucy immediately acted. "Open! Crux! Horologium!"
Golden light shone! The elderly Celestial Spirit appeared. "Lucy-chan! Do you need me to divine a lucky spot for healing?"
"Horologium! Quickly! Use your starlight to help them stabilize their injuries!" Lucy urged.
"Understood!" Horologium spread out his star chart, and soft starlight sprinkled over Natsu and Gray, temporarily stabilizing their worsening injuries.
Erza propped herself up with the cross spear, wiped the blood from her mouth, dispelled her Heart Kreuz Cloth, and her Adamantine Armor reappeared, as she vigilantly locked onto the demon ice sculpture. "Christian, what's the demon's status?"
"Target Deliora... life signs... strongly suppressed by... freezing rules... but... not extinguished..." Christian scanned the ice sculpture.
"Core... still... slowly... absorbing... ley line magic power... micro-level... cracks... appearing... inside... ice layer... estimated... complete breakthrough... time... unknown... but... it exists..."
"As expected..." Erza's eyes were grave. "We must utterly destroy it!"
"Utterly destroy..." Lucy looked at the towering ice sculpture, feeling despair. "Even Absolute Zero Stasis could only seal it... how can we destroy it?"
"Method..." Christian's core struggled to operate. "Analyzing Deliora... magic power composition... core weakness... located... three inches... behind... crimson single eye... energy nexus... requires... super high intensity... piercing attack..."
"Piercing attack?" Erza gripped her greatsword. "My Holy Spear..."
"Negative..." Christian interrupted. "Holy light... against demons... effect... weakened... and... ice layer... isolates... requires... internal... or... synchronized... burst..."
"Internal?" Erza frowned.
"Synchronized burst?" Lucy was puzzled.
"Individual name: Natsu Dragneel..." Christian's core locked onto the unconscious Natsu.
"Dragon Slaying Magic... attribute: Fire... counters... demons... potential... his body... contains... not fully digested... magical power... core energy... (Garna Island mission absorbed train wreckage energy)... can be guided... to burst... forming... 'Dragon Slayer Secret Art'..."
"Guide Natsu's power?" Erza looked at the unconscious Fire Dragon.
"Feasible... but... requires... external... precise guidance... and... protection..." Christian's core's faint glow flickered. "I... calculate... trajectory... Erza... Captain... execute... final blow..."
"How?" Erza asked without hesitation.
"Steps: One, Lucy... summon... Taurus... his giant axe... bombard ice sculpture... specific coordinates... create... crack entrance..."
"Two, I... liquefy... infiltrate crack... enter... ice layer... analyze... and... mark... demon energy nexus..."
"Three, Natsu... by Erza... inject... magic power... stimulate... forcibly awaken... and... guide... his internal... accumulated energy... lock onto... marked point..."
"Four, Erza... synchronize... strongest attack... holy light... assist piercing..."
"It's too dangerous, Chris!" Lucy exclaimed, worried. "You'll be corroded by the demon's magic power if you go inside!"
"Only... solution..." Christian's voice was calm. "Execute... or... await... demon's revival... destruction of everything..."
Lucy bit her lip, tears streaming down her face. Erza took a deep breath, her eyes sharp as blades: "Begin! Lucy! Execute the first step!"
"Understood!" Lucy wiped away her tears and raised her golden key! "Open! gate of taurus! Taurus!"
"Moo moo moo moo—! Miss Lucy! What are your orders!" Taurus's giant axe landed.
"Taurus! With all your might! Cleave the ice sculpture! Coordinates: seven meters above the left shoulder! Cleave vertically!" Lucy pointed to the coordinates Christian provided.
"As you command!" Taurus roared! His giant axe raised high! His muscles bulged! "Heavy Rock Slash!!!"
The giant axe, with the power to cleave mountains and shatter rocks, fiercely struck the designated location!
Rumble!!!!!
Ice shards flew! A deep crack exploded in the solid ice! Revealing the dark purple demon carapace within!
"Second step!" The gelatinous mass that was Christian instantly liquefied! Transforming into a deep blue stream! As if alive! It precisely shot into the crack! Disappearing between the ice layer and the demon carapace!
[Alert! Entering... ice layer... demon magic power corrosion... intensity... high... resistance activated... analysis... beginning... locating... energy nexus...] A faint information stream returned.
Inside the ice layer. The deep blue gelatinous mass struggled to move through the extreme cold and terrifying demon magic power. The gelatinous mass was constantly corroded, vaporized, and regenerated. Core computations maintained at the brink of collapse. [Coordinates locked... three inches... behind... crimson single eye... depth... marking complete...]
"Third step!" Erza rushed to Natsu's side! Her hands pressed against his scorched back! Holy light magic power was injected without reservation! "Natsu! Wake up! Use your flames! Pierce it!!!"
"Ugh... Er... za..." Natsu, stimulated by the intense pain and holy light, painfully opened his eyes. Inside him, the immense energy accumulated from the magical train's core, guided by Christian, mixed with his own Dragon Slayer Magic, ignited like a volcano!
"Fourth step!" Erza pulled out the cross spear beside her! Holy light condensed again! "Holy Spear - Judgment!!!"
The cross spear transformed into a pure white shooting star! Following Christian's marked direction! It shot towards the ice sculpture's crack!
Inside the ice layer! Christian exhausted his last bit of energy! Aligning the marked point's coordinates with his own position! The core issued its final command: "Natsu! Now! Fire Dragon's—"
—"King's Flame!!! Roar ah ah ah ah ah!!!!!" Natsu roared!
The blazing white flames, accumulated to their limit! Mixed with chaotic magical energy! Like a world-ending dragon's breath! It erupted from his mouth! Arriving after the spear but striking simultaneously! Precisely pouring into the ice layer's crack! Following Christian's marked trajectory! And Erza's Holy Spear shooting star! Synchronously blasting towards that dark purple energy nexus!
Rumble rumble rumble—!!!!!!
An indescribable explosion! It erupted from within the ice sculpture! The blazing white Dragon Slayer Flame! The pure white holy light! Mixed with the demon's final wail! Instantly tore apart! Melted! Annihilated the towering ice sculpture from within!
A terrifying energy storm swept across the entire temple ruins! Rubble turned to dust! Smoke and dust rose into the sky!
The light dissipated.
In the center of the ruins. A giant crater. Deliora... along with the massive ice sculpture... had vanished without a trace. Only the lingering heat and holy aura in the air proved the earth-shattering blow that had just occurred.
Natsu collapsed from exhaustion, unconscious again. Erza leaned on her cross spear, breathing heavily. Gray, under Horologium's starlight, struggled to open his eyes.
At the edge of the deep crater. Lucy knelt on the ground, holding a deep blue gelatinous fragment, only thumb-sized, covered in cracks, and with its light completely extinguished. It was cold and lifeless to the touch.
"Chris... tian..." Lucy's tears silently fell onto the fragment.
"Aye..." Happy sadly lowered his head.
Erza walked to Lucy's side, looked at the fragment, remained silent for a moment, then reached out and gently patted Lucy's trembling shoulder.
"He... completed his mission." Erza's voice was a little hoarse, yet exceptionally firm. "As a member of Fairy Tail... he fought to the very end."
Gray supported himself and walked over, looking at the fragment, his ice-blue eyes filled with respect. "This bond... will always exist."
Above the ruins, the morning light finally completely dispelled the gloom of Garna Island. The sea breeze brought a salty scent, and also the tranquility of surviving a catastrophe. The team members supported each other, scarred but with resolute eyes.
That cold fragment was held carefully in Lucy's palm. The devourer Christian, in his own way, became Fairy Tail's... eternal legend. A new journey continued, with insights gained from loss and protection.