For the people of Altair, today should have been an ordinary day like any other.
Instead, disaster descended without warning.
A vast, translucent blue magic array spread across the entire capital, so enormous that it seemed to cover the sky itself.
The weather changed almost instantly as thick clouds rolled in and smothered the city, yet what drifted down from above was neither rain nor snow.
Tiny points of pale-blue light floated through the air like delicate snowflakes, settling gently over streets, rooftops, and crowds.
People stopped to stare at the strange phenomenon.
Some reached out curiously to catch the glowing flakes in their palms, while children laughed and chased them through the streets as though Altair had been blessed with some miraculous snowfall.
The wonder lasted only moments.
A horrific scream tore through the city.
Blood sprayed into the air.
And the nightmarish transformation began.
A middle-aged man stared in horror as his fingers lengthened into sharp claws.
He frantically touched his face, only to feel rough, grotesque flesh spreading across what had once been human skin, and despair finally broke through his shock as he let out a terrible roar.
To his terrified wife and children, however, that roar sounded like the threat of a monster.
They collapsed backward in fear.
The man saw their faces and clearly understood what was happening, yet something inside him had already begun to change.
Rage and a violent urge to destroy everything around him overwhelmed his reason, and before he could stop himself, he raised those newly formed claws toward his own family.
Screams and sobbing soon filled the street.
And that single household was only one tiny fragment of what was happening across Altair.
More and more civilians transformed into hideous demons, losing control of their newfound strength and violent impulses before turning on whoever happened to be closest.
Friends attacked friends, neighbors tore into one another, and families who had been laughing together only moments earlier were suddenly fighting for their lives.
"No… please…"
A girl no older than seven or eight stumbled and fell onto the street.
Black demonic flesh was spreading frantically across her body.
In front of her stood a woman with tears streaming down her face, one clawed hand already raised.
Her mother.
Half of the woman's body had transformed.
On the demonic side of her face was a savage expression filled with murderous excitement, while the remaining human half was twisted with horror and grief as she fought desperately against her own body.
For a moment, the mother held on.
Then the demonic instinct overwhelmed her.
She roared and brought her claws down toward her daughter.
"Ice-Make—Silver World!!"
Pale-violet light erupted across the street.
Freezing air swept from one end of the district to the other, instantly sealing countless rampaging demons inside layers of ice and halting tragedies like the mother and daughter's before they could reach their bloody conclusions.
Gray rushed into view with a grim expression.
Natsu, who had already regrouped with him, stared furiously at the chaos consuming the city.
"Damn it! What the hell happened?! Everyone's turning into demons!"
Gray crouched beside the frozen mother and studied her carefully.
When he noticed the transformation had stopped spreading beneath his ice, some of the tension finally left his face.
"Good. My magic can suppress whatever's causing the demonification."
That meant his Ice Devil Slayer Magic could restrain the infected civilians without killing them, giving Gray a way to stop the rampage while preserving their lives.
The problem was the scale.
There were far too many.
Everywhere he listened, Gray could hear screaming, collapsing buildings, and bursts of magic from people who had suddenly gained powers they couldn't control.
Anxiety tightened in his chest as he realized how impossible it would be to reach everyone in time.
Then a weak voice came from behind him.
"Gray…"
"Freeze us too."
Both Gray and Natsu spun around.
Erza and Wendy had dropped to the ground, cold sweat covering their faces as they desperately circulated their Magic Power.
Dark demonic markings were already spreading across the backs of their hands.
Gray's expression changed sharply.
He immediately covered both of their arms in Devil Slayer ice, halting the transformation before it could spread farther.
"Even Erza and Wendy are being affected?"
A chill went through him as he looked toward the sky.
Just how powerful was that magic array?
Magic Power was normally the best defense against any foreign force attempting to invade the body.
If even Fairy Tail's strongest mages could be infected, ordinary civilians had almost no chance of resisting it at all.
Gray quickly froze Happy and Carla as well, since their comparatively lower Magic Power made them even more vulnerable, then prepared to continue moving through the city and suppress as many transformations as possible.
Before leaving, however, he happened to glance at Natsu.
Then he stopped.
"Wait."
Gray stared at him.
"Why are you completely fine?"
Natsu blinked and looked himself over.
"Huh?"
He flexed both hands, patted his chest, and frowned in genuine confusion.
"No idea. I don't feel anything."
Gray's own immunity made sense.
Ice Devil Slayer Magic had already altered his physiology enough that he possessed a controlled demonic nature, leaving the array with little to transform.
But Natsu?
There was no obvious explanation.
They didn't have time to investigate.
Erza forced herself upright as soon as the ice stabilized her condition.
"If Natsu isn't affected, that works in our favor. Natsu and I will find Bro and Lucy, while Gray and Wendy concentrate on protecting the civilians."
"Got it!"
Whatever the reason, having two people who could move through the infected city without succumbing to demonification was a tremendous advantage.
The group split up once more.
...
Deep beneath Zash's estate, Ankh's extraordinary senses had already given him a rough picture of the catastrophe unfolding above.
For the first time since Mard Geer arrived, urgency entered his expression.
Nearby, Lucy and Brandish had both fallen to the floor.
Their faces were tight with pain as they poured Magic Power through their bodies to resist the same demonic transformation consuming the citizens above.
Mard Geer glanced down at Brandish without the slightest sympathy.
"Bran, you've repeatedly ignored orders and avoided assignments, and His Majesty tolerated it every time. But now you've reconciled with the enemy during an active operation."
His voice turned colder.
"That is betrayal."
Brandish raised her head and gave him a contemptuous laugh despite the pain.
"Save the righteous act. You've been desperate for the position at the top of the Spriggan 12 for ages, so you're just looking for excuses to get rid of the competition."
Mard Geer's expression didn't change.
"A traitor like you doesn't deserve to stand among the Spriggan 12. In fact, you no longer deserve to call yourself a soldier of Alvarez at all."
"I haven't betrayed anyone!"
Brandish glared back at him stubbornly.
"I made this clear to Zeref from the beginning. I'll only do what I believe is right. If the Empire wants to throw me out over that, then I don't care about staying!"
"Bran…"
Lucy tightened her grip around Brandish's hand and looked at her with genuine emotion.
Brandish continued staring straight ahead, but her voice softened.
"Besides…"
"I don't want to betray a friend either."
Mard Geer gave a dismissive snort.
"Ridiculous."
Seeing that Brandish and Lucy had genuinely resolved their conflict, he suddenly raised one hand and released a pulse of air.
Several hidden doors opened throughout the walls of the underground chamber.
Rows of black-armored mechanical soldiers emerged from within them.
Mard Geer smiled.
"One of Stella's specialties—the so-called Fourth Generation Dragon Slayers, artificial soldiers of the Quartum Army."
His smile widened as the machines marched forward.
"Of course, I've made a few modifications."
"They should now possess both draconic and demonic power."
Mard Geer gestured casually toward Lucy and Brandish.
"Let them entertain you."
The black Quartum soldiers surged forward like a swarm of locusts.
Still struggling to keep the demonic transformation from overtaking their own bodies, Lucy and Brandish had no choice but to rise and fight.
"MARD GEER!!"
A furious roar suddenly came from the entrance.
An orange-clad figure rushed into the underground chamber and charged directly toward the Underworld King.
Ankh looked over.
It was Sonya, the naïve girl they had encountered outside Altair the night before.
But there was something very different about her now.
The voice coming from her mouth was not that of a frightened young woman.
It was the deep, mature voice of a man.
Mard Geer looked at her with open mockery and sighed.
"Animus."
His smile sharpened.
"What a perfect timing."