Inside the cave in the Deltara Mountains, the sound of crying echoed from every direction.
Erza, Kagura, and Natsu could still endure it.
Tears continued streaming uncontrollably from their eyes, but at least none of them were openly sobbing.
Happy, on the other hand, was bawling louder than anyone, as though the entire world had betrayed him.
Lucy wiped at her tears and forced herself to speak through the overwhelming sadness.
"What kind of Magic is this?!"
Athena answered seriously,
"I already told you. This is not Magic. It is alchemy."
"I transmuted your tears."
"You're lying!!!" Lucy protested indignantly. "Alchemy is supposed to involve mixing different materials together and transforming them... That's what it's supposed to be like!"
Lucy had never studied alchemy herself, but she still knew the basics.
At the very least, it was not supposed to be something as absurdly mystical as simply declaring that someone's tears had been "transmuted" out of nowhere.
There was one principle even Lucy knew well—the law of equivalent exchange.
It was one of the fundamental rules of alchemy.
Generally speaking, to produce a change in one substance through alchemy, something of equal value had to be exchanged for it, much like how a Mage had to expend Magic Power in order to cast a spell.
Natsu, however, bared his teeth in a grin.
"This girl's pretty interesting!"
"!!!"
A surprisingly human look of shock appeared in Athena's eyes.
Steam was rising from Natsu's tear-filled eyes.
He was evaporating the tears with his own flames, directly countering Athena's alchemy.
The effect of Transmuted Tears was simple—it forced the target to experience intense sadness and grief.
Against someone weaker, that alone could completely destroy their will to fight.
For example...
Happy.
"I see." Erza immediately understood. "You're using fire to evaporate the tears. Nice thinking, Natsu."
Kagura and Erza each punched themselves hard in the thigh, using physical pain to fight back against the artificially induced sadness as they stared at Athena.
"We came here looking for you."
Athena looked slightly surprised.
"Looking for me?"
Still wiping away her tears, Lucy explained,
"We heard you possess the power to defeat the Five Dragon Gods."
Natsu frowned slightly.
"To be honest, I don't really care what kind of power you have. If you can just tell us where Viernes, the Gold Dragon God, and Ignia, the Fire Dragon God, are right now, that's enough."
"...I see."
Athena closed her eyes for a moment as though considering their words, then opened them again.
She spread her hands and smiled.
"I understand what you wish to discuss. However, I am currently an alchemist of Gold Owl, and under the orders of our guild master, I am carrying out a mission to capture Fairy Tail Mages."
Lucy looked puzzled.
"Why are you trying to capture us?"
Athena placed one hand on her hip and closed her eyes as she shook her head.
"I have no obligation to answer that question."
"Then why did you, a weapon created specifically to defeat the Five Dragon Gods, join Gold Owl?" Erza pressed.
"And why did you previously establish the White Magic cult Rebellious and call yourself the White Mage?" Kagura added.
"My answer remains the same. I have no reason to tell you."
Natsu slammed his fists together and grinned.
"Got it! So in the end, we just have to beat the answer out of her!"
"Eh?" Lucy stared at him awkwardly. "Do we really need to do that?"
"Whatever! We'll knock her down first and figure it out afterward!"
Natsu rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles, clearly eager to get started.
Seeing how excited he was, Lucy hurriedly warned him,
"Natsu, she's a mechanical doll, so if you hit her too hard..."
Happy raised one paw.
"Aye! She means don't break her!"
Natsu blinked, then nodded.
"Ohhh! Got it!"
His expression immediately hardened again as he stared at Athena.
"I already said I'll defeat Viernes and Ignia without borrowing this girl's power."
"But she attacked Fairy Tail."
"So now we hit back!"
Across from him, Athena merely stood with one hand on her hip, completely composed.
...
Ultear and Mira had no intention of remaining at the inn and doing nothing.
After informing both Raizel and Erza, the two followed the road north and arrived at Gold Owl's guild hall.
There were far more members inside than they had expected, and nearly all of them were loudly discussing how they should capture Fairy Tail.
"In that case..."
"We might as well strike first."
Ultear and Mira exchanged glances and nodded.
Ultear released her Ice Magic.
Frost rapidly spread across the entire Gold Owl guild hall.
"Where did you two come from?!"
The Gold Owl members shivered violently, rubbing the goosebumps rising across their skin.
"Look at the emblem on her hand! Fairy Tail!"
"Ara, ara. Looks like we've been discovered."
Mira smiled sweetly.
"Then everyone should go to sleep."
She activated Take Over and assumed Seilah's form.
Using Seilah's Curse, Mira issued a Command—
and the Gold Owl members immediately collapsed into unconsciousness.
"Hm?"
Ultear looked at the fallen crowd in mild surprise.
"They're weaker than I expected."
She quickly added,
"But we still shouldn't lower our guard. We don't know whether those Signario Sisters Sai mentioned are here."
Ultear then released Sai from the sealing card.
Now that they had already reached Gold Owl itself, he no longer had much use as a captive.
"Oro, oro... What fascinating Magic."
"We didn't even have to go looking for you. The 'materials' walked right into our guild on their own."
Two figures descended slowly from the staircase leading to the second floor.
"..."
Sai, still wearing his Magic-Sealing Handcuffs, immediately broke into a cold sweat.
He was clearly afraid of them.
Ultear and Mira both noticed and shifted into guarded stances.
"Oro, oro. I suppose there's no helping it."
"It's our turn."
The two newcomers spoke almost in rhythm with one another.
The man on the right was huge and powerfully built, with muscles that rivaled Elfman's.
He wore wooden sandals and traditional training clothes, with a thick twisted rope like those worn by sumo wrestlers wrapped around his body.
His face was painted in a theatrical pattern, and an alchemical weapon resembling a smoking pipe hung at his waist.
Gennai.
Standing on the left was a tall, lean man dressed entirely in black, with only his eyes visible beneath an iron helmet.
A steel sword was strapped across his back.
Kotetsu.
"Gennai-san!!! Kotetsu-san!!! Save me!"
Sai struggled on the floor and shouted desperately toward them.
Gennai lowered his head slightly, his voice deep and heavy.
"Oro, oro. A useless fool who got himself captured should crawl off to the side."
"Material."
Kotetsu's voice carried neither emotion nor inflection.
Ultear gave a quiet laugh.
"Looks like we're being underestimated, Mira. They're actually calling us alchemical materials."
From Sai's interrogation, they already knew that Gold Owl's guild master, Duke Barbaroa, possessed a method of using a Mage's Magic Power as material for alchemy.
Mira folded her hands lightly in front of herself and smiled with narrowed eyes.
"Ara, ara."
"Then I suppose we should show them what Fairy Tail Mages are capable of."