"So, have you decided who it will be?"
When Shane failed to answer for quite a while, Ereshkigal's ethereal voice rang out in his mind again.
"Who?" Shane looked up, tension flashing across his face. "You mean… this method of 'conceptual erasure' can only hide one person?"
"If I focus the line of conceptual erasure on a single target, it should be easier to manage, shouldn't it?" Ereshkigal replied as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
"After all, once day breaks, I'll have to leave. If that one in the sky refuses to give up, then all that will be left is for this fragment of the underworld to slowly grind away the connection between you. If it goes slowly, it might take several years."
"Several years…"
Hearing that timeframe, Shane actually let out a long breath of relief.
What he had feared most was some melodramatic forced choice, or worse, a catastrophe that would affect the entire nation.
If the price was only a few years, then compared to turning the whole Kingdom of Fiore into underworld wasteland, that was far easier to accept.
"And just so you know, your body will continue to grow in accordance with the laws of the living world. Time will pass normally," Ereshkigal added dutifully, going over the details one by one.
"But because of my protection, your consciousness will remain in a kind of chaotic sleep. You'll close your eyes, open them again, and several years will already have passed."
"There aren't any other problems, right?" Shane asked again, just to be safe.
"Mm… if I really had to name one, then a person buried directly in the deepest part of the underworld would have both soul and body washed even more thoroughly and purely by the underworld's energy."
Ereshkigal thought for a moment, then added, "Though in terms of removing the curse, it doesn't really make any substantial difference."
Shane lowered his head and looked at the unconscious Ultear in his arms.
Since the body would continue growing while asleep, then the magical tempering and physical adaptation he had gained through the Class Cards should not stop just because he was unconscious.
Looking at it optimistically… it was basically painless passive leveling in the background.
And if the underworld could cleanse the curse even more thoroughly, then that would undoubtedly ensure a higher completion level for the trial he had just triggered.
No matter how he looked at it, it made more sense for him to bear this "erasure" than to stuff Ultear underground instead.
"Then choose me," Shane said, lifting his head and making the decision in an even tone.
"You won't be able to change your mind halfway through."
That was what Ereshkigal said, but her movements did not hesitate in the slightest.
She raised a slender finger and gave a light pull through the air.
A thread of curse far darker and deeper than before obediently drifted out from Ultear's chest.
At the same time, another faint trace belonging to Gray floated in from a great distance.
The moment those two traces appeared, the gray-white malice hanging over the sky gathered toward them like sharks smelling blood.
"Hmph."
Curling her pale fingers, Ereshkigal forcibly kneaded those two causal traces into a single mass and pushed it straight into Shane's chest.
At that moment, every anchor point and every ounce of hatred became concentrated on Shane alone.
"Go on. With me holding things in place here, I can still make a little time for you to move freely."
As her words fell, Ereshkigal turned her hand and drove the spear-staff in her grasp heavily into the underworld beneath her feet!
Boom!
Brilliant golden divine radiance erupted from the spear-staff like an explosion, instantly illuminating the pitch-black, oppressive space around them.
The gray-white curses that had been surging madly through the air and trying to pounce on Shane were swept away in an instant, like snow meeting the blazing sun.
Even so, at the edges of that radiance, faint strands of malice could still be seen writhing furiously, trying to force their way back in.
There was no time to waste.
Shane nodded, then immediately turned to the grim-faced members of Grimoire Heart behind him.
"Hades. I agree to what we discussed earlier."
"But only after everyone in Fairy Tail has safely withdrawn will I tell you what I know about Zeref."
"Brat, how am I supposed to trust you?" Hades demanded coldly.
"Fairy Tail stands in the open, while Grimoire Heart lurks in the dark. I don't feel like enraging a bunch of people who live in the shadows over a single piece of information."
Shane spread his hands in a completely shameless gesture.
"And besides, the fact that I didn't ask that goddess to erase all of you too—isn't that already the greatest proof of my sincerity?"
"A being that lofty is not something you can casually order around."
Hades snorted and mercilessly tore through Shane's bluff.
But despite those words, when his eyes swept over the spear-staff radiating divine brilliance, a deep trace of wariness still flashed in them.
"Let's hope you don't try any more tricks, brat."
After weighing it for a moment, he finally compromised.
With that, Hades gestured for Rustyrose and the others behind him to withdraw with him.
Since the original capture plan had already gone completely off course, his best move was obviously to retreat while the curse around them was still being suppressed by the golden spear.
In less than two minutes, the core members of Grimoire Heart turned into streaks of shadow just as they had when they arrived, leaping back up onto the flying ship above Nirvana and vanishing.
As Shane watched them leave—
"Mmh…"
Ultear, who had been unconscious the whole time, finally let out a low groan and slowly opened her eyes.
Taking advantage of the fact that she had just woken up, Shane quickly explained the current situation and his decision to be sealed in the underworld and sleep for several years.
"…"
Ultear, who had still been dazed a second ago, instantly snapped awake at those words.
"Why do you always make these decisions on your own?!" Ultear bit her lip and instinctively grabbed Shane's wrist.
"Hold it. Don't act like I've made some grand sacrifice and I'm about to die."
Shane looked at her with a bit of speechless exasperation.
This was obviously the most reasonable arrangement. He really did not understand why someone as clear-headed as her was reacting like this.
He was terrible at dealing with this kind of atmosphere.
"Didn't I already explain? If it goes quickly, it'll only be a few months. If it goes slowly, at worst it'll just be a few years. I'll sleep, wake up, and it'll be over."
He turned his hand and took hold of hers instead, pulling her up from the ground in one motion.
"Anyway, I'm leaving all the explaining to Master Makarov, Erza, and the others to you."
"And make absolutely sure they leave this place as fast as possible. The sooner, the better."
Shane's expression turned extremely serious.
"The Noble Phantasm I used earlier to cancel out Nirvana will draw the black dragon here."
"It definitely still remembers the scent of that power. Last time it tracked me down in a single night. This time… it'll be even faster."
"…"
Looking at the same familiar annoyed expression on Shane's face, Ultear's panic finally eased a little.
Time really was far too tight. They couldn't afford to waste another moment here.
"Don't make us wait too long."
Ultear released his hand, gave him one last deep look, then spun around and sprinted without hesitation toward the direction where Fairy Tail had retreated.
Only after seeing her leave obediently did Shane finally let out a long breath.
He turned and looked around at the vast forest, which should have been lush and full of life.
"First Nirvana polluted it into a complete mess, then it got torn apart over and over by life-and-death curses and the underworld…"
"And in a minute it'll probably get scorched flat by that unreasonable black dragon's roar too…"
"The more I think about it, the more this place really has had a rough time…"
Shane shook his head helplessly.
While the goddess's protection still held for a little longer, he turned his gaze toward the distant night.
That was the direction of old man Robinlu's village, where Wendy was.
The black dragon would be here any minute now. No matter how he looked at it, he had to go warn them.
And while he was at it, he could also ask the guardian of Nirvana what ought to be done afterward with that ancient city now that its power source had been shut down.