Kael Vane stepped out of his house and shut the door behind him.
For a moment, the street was quiet.
He dropped into a crouch—one leg forward, one leg back—like a runner on the line. His weight settled. His muscles tightened. The world narrowed to a single direction.
BOOM—!
He drove off the ground.
His body vanished.
...
In Magnolia, a citizen was walking down the street after dinner, hands in his pockets, thinking about nothing in particular—
A sudden gust of wind blasted past him like something cutting through the air.
"Ah—!"
A young woman's skirt flew up, giving the people around her quite a show. Gasps popped up like sparks. She yelped, face burning, and slapped it back down with both hands.
"Huh? Where did that wind come from?"
There was no wind tonight.
...
A few seconds later...
Whoosh!
Kael Vane reappeared at his front door.
He hit the ground and stopped so hard the impact rippled outward—grit and small rocks skittering across the dirt.
"Thirty-three seconds."
He didn't need a timer. His body kept time the way a machine did—clean, ruthless, accurate down to the smallest fraction.
Kael stayed where he was, half-bent from the stop, staring at the space in front of him as if it might correct itself.
It didn't.
To adapt to the power of his forms, he'd been doing the system's basic training every day.
It gave no rewards, but getting stronger was the best reward.
The first time he ran around Magnolia, it took him over thirty minutes.
Now, it took him just over thirty seconds.
The loop around Magnolia was about 10,000 meters.
He did it in thirty-three seconds.
That meant he was running 300 meters per second.
"300 meters a second..."
The number landed in his head like a blow.
He was shocked. That was almost the speed of sound.
This form is a monster. It's so fast, not even Gojo's Six Eyes could track it.
And he could feel it—like a leash still on his own bones.
His body was still holding Toji's power back. At full strength, he could be faster than sound.
"This is amazing!"
The gold cards were worth it. Mira was truly his lucky goddess.
He canceled the Take Over.
The moment he did...
Pain.
An intense, savage pain detonated through every muscle in his body, like someone had poured fire into his veins.
"Aaaaaaaargh!"
The scream tore out of him before he could stop it.
Pain! It hurts so much!
He had never felt anything like it. It was worse than a broken bone—worse because it was everywhere.
"System! What is going on?!"
[The Host's body was pushed far beyond its limits. The Host's own foundation is too weak to handle it, which is causing the muscle damage.]
"What?! There's a side effect?! Why didn't you say so!"
[The Host never asked.]
Kael's vision swam. He clenched his teeth hard enough his jaw ached.
[If the Host continues to train and masters Sun Breathing: Total Concentration: Constant, the pain will be much less.]
So it will still hurt!
Kael was furious, but the pain drowned everything. Anger couldn't find space to breathe.
He made it to his bed and collapsed onto it, not daring to move again. Even the faintest shift—cloth against skin, air against muscle—made his whole body spike with agony.
He didn't dare yell. That only made it worse.
He lay there through the night, counting the hours by the way the darkness refused to end.
It was the longest night of his life.
When the sun finally came up, he could barely move his fingers.
He opened the system panel and selected all the blue, green, and white cards.
[Recycle these character cards?]
"Yes!"
[Recycle successful! Gained Magic Power: ☆!]
A wave of magic power flowed through his body—cool and steady, like water pouring over a burn.
The pain started to fade.
"System, what is this? I recycled so many cards! Why only half a star?!"
Magic power was the foundation for everything.
[It is all based on the algorithm. The higher the magic power, the more it costs to level up!]
"The algorithm again... what is the algorithm?"
[To go from 4-star to 5-star requires 1000 magic points!]
[White = 10 points. Green = 20 points. Blue = 50 points. Purple = 800 points. Gold = 3000 points.]
Kael's eye twitched.
So there really was an algorithm.
Purple and gold were worth the most, but it still seemed too low.
A thousand blue cards weren't worth one gold card. Everything below blue was just fuel.
He couldn't go to the guild today. He was tired from all the high-level missions, anyway.
He would rest and recover.
He let his eyes close again.
Just as he was starting to drift—
A loud noise rattled his front door.
"Kael! Kael!"
He blinked hard, pushed himself upright, and stumbled to the door.
When he opened it, a big crowd filled his doorway and yard like a flood.
Natsu, Gray, Happy, Erza, Mira, Elfman, Levy, Laki...
Kael stared, mouth half open. "Wh-What are you all doing here?"
"We came to hang out!" they all yelled.
Mira smiled, warm and bright as ever. "We heard you moved, so we all came to celebrate your new house!"
Kael slapped his forehead. "Oh no... I've been so busy, I totally forgot. Welcome, welcome! I'll go buy food."
He had promised to cook for Mira.
Erza stepped forward like it was already decided. "No need! We brought everything! We're having a barbecue party today!"
"Oooooooh!"
The yard exploded into motion. Someone started the fire. Someone else dragged out plates. The smell of food hit the air, and laughter followed right behind it.
Soon, they were all eating, drinking, and talking over each other—arguing, joking, bragging, alive.
Kael sat there with a cup in his hand, watching faces flicker in the firelight. For a moment, he just listened.
He felt a little dazed.
It had been a long time since his home felt this lively.
The party lasted late into the night.
After everyone finally left—still laughing, still yelling goodbyes—Kael lay in bed and stared at the ceiling, the quiet suddenly loud.
"A guild... friends..."
He finally understood what it meant.
He finally felt like he was truly a member of Fairy Tail.
This feeling...
It's not bad.
...
Time flies.
Half a year passed in an instant.
...
Ishgar Continent, Eastern Region.
In a hidden building, over a thousand people in black robes were gathered, performing a strange ritual.
In the center, hundreds of people—men and women—were tied to wooden stakes. Their mouths were gagged. Their eyes were wide with terror, darting from face to face, searching for anything that looked like mercy.
They found none.
A man in a mask stood up. His voice cut clean through the chanting.
"The ritual of sacrifice will now begin!"
"These 300 pure souls will guide his return!"
"The great Black Wizard, Zeref!"
"Oooooooh!"
The robed members cheered, their voices rising with feverish devotion.
"We offer this sacrifice to walk with him in this world! Begin!"
Suddenly—
BOOM—!
The main door exploded inward.
Dust and splinters rolled across the floor.
"What's going on?!"
A playful voice called out, almost amused by the panic.
"Ah, ah... You were hard to find!"
A young man with freckles and an orange cowboy hat walked in, shirtless, as if he were strolling into a tavern instead of a slaughterhouse.
"Yo! Good evening, you idiots from that dark guild!"