Mavis's spirit body slowly sank into the body that had been preserved for nearly a century. Hope spread his hands, and complex Magic Circles unfurled in layers beneath his feet as a pale golden light poured into the magic crystal like flowing water.
The magic crystal's glow suddenly intensified, illuminating the entire underground space as brightly as day. Soon after, fine cracks began to appear on its surface, and light shone through from within, growing increasingly brilliant.
Finally, with a crisp cracking sound, the massive crystal preserving Mavis's body completely disintegrated, dissolving into countless motes of light that vanished into the air.
Losing its support, Mavis's body slumped forward, but Hope caught her with magic and gently laid her on a blanket he had just conjured.
Her body still carried the lingering cool aura of the magic crystal, but Hope could feel her consciousness slowly reviving, bit by bit.
The plan to use the 'Enchantment' to reattach Mavis's soul to her body had succeeded, but the subsequent process of her spirit and flesh merging took much longer than Hope had anticipated.
Since it involved the most mysterious realms of human existence—the soul and consciousness—even Hope wasn't sure how long it would take for Mavis to wake up.
Time ticked by, minute by minute.
Silence returned to the underground space. Only the extremely faint sounds of celebration filtering down from above broke the quiet, acting like distant background noise that made the place feel less desolate.
Hope was somewhat speechless; he was over ten meters underground and could still hear the commotion of the celebration banquet... those people were really too rowdy. Just then, the blonde girl's long eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes. Her emerald-green eyes were initially vacant, but they soon focused and regained their luster.
She pushed herself up, her blonde hair cascading like a waterfall, and stared at her hands—real, warm hands.
"I... really..." Mavis's Voice was soft, trembling with uncontrollable emotion.
Although living on Tenrou Island all these years had been boring, for a ghost, being able to move freely, see beautiful scenery, and observe the various magical creatures up close was already a precious luxury.
Mavis had been content with such a life after death.
Therefore, she hadn't held much Hope for the "soul attachment" plan Hope proposed. After all, she had been dead for nearly ninety years; if she could still come back to life, it would be quite disrespectful to ankhseram's status as a god.
But touching reality once more and feeling the warmth of her body again, Mavis was so excited she couldn't help but let tears fall.
Yet, she wiped her tears away almost as soon as they fell. The blonde girl's heart was filled with the thrill of returning to the world; she leaped up, her eyes dancing with joy as she gave a somewhat childish smile.
"This is wonderful! I want to eat cream cake, caramel pudding, tiramisu, donuts..."
Hearing Mavis rattle off a long list of dessert names like a menu, Hope's mouth twitched slightly. Was she really not afraid of getting fat, tooth decay, or diabetes from eating so many sweets? Oh, right—Mavis was only twenty-three when she died; she hadn't even enjoyed her life for more than a few days before she was gone, so she never had the chance to develop those ailments.
Hope smiled and reached out a hand. "Anyway, welcome back, First Master."
"I'm back!" Mavis reached out, her Voice overflowing with joy.
However, the moment they touched, the gaze of a terrifying existence crossed space and locked onto Hope. A sense of crisis, like needles pricking his back, made Hope's hair stand on end instantly.
An unknown and powerful magic power immediately locked onto him. Energy partially similar to that within Mavis's body frantically invaded Hope's system, as if trying to brand itself deep into his flesh and blood.
This was... the 'Curse of Contradiction'!
It seemed the act of "resurrecting" Mavis had finally drawn the attention of ankhseram, the God of Life and Death. Just as Zeref had wanted to resurrect Natsu, He was now descending a curse upon Hope.
Realizing that ankhseram had finally lost his composure, the look of surprise on Hope's face immediately shifted into a smirk.
"I haven't even come looking for trouble with you yet, and you've actually come looking for me."
"What an arrogant thing!"
Magnetic Field Rotation!
A savage and domineering hundred thousand horsepower burst forth from within Hope. The violent electric currents inside his body instantly forced the divine curse, which had invaded deep into his bloodline, out of his body.
A mass of pitch-black Death Magic revealed its true form.
Whale Slaying Overlord Fist!
Hope threw a punch, obliterating that mass of divine magic on the spot. His gaze instinctively followed the trail of magic power in a certain direction.
When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.
When ankhseram made his move against Hope, his location was laid bare to the intuition of a Magnetic Field Expert.
Two gazes seemed to cross endless time and space, meeting each other.
Hope could feel a large amount of Death Magic gathering. It seemed that so-called god was angry at the resistance of a tiny human like him.
"How petty."
However, if he followed the trail now, he might be able to discover some clues left by the other party.
Just as this thought arose in Hope's mind, the feeling of being watched by ankhseram vanished without a trace, and that massive magic power also dissipated, as if it had been forcibly interrupted.
Who could force ankhseram to give up on dealing with a human who provoked Him?
A name suddenly surfaced in Hope's mind.
Acnologia... the Black Dragon who set his sights on gods.
That's right. No matter how powerful a god is, they are ultimately restricted within the framework of the magic world. No matter how strong the energy they drive, it can only be magic power.
To put it bluntly, they are just more powerful magical creatures who have traveled further along the path of magic.
Acnologia could even sense the magic on Tenrou Island, isolated overseas; there was no reason his terrifying perception wouldn't notice ankhseram's magic power.
If found by that powerful Black Dragon who is immune to magic... even a god would probably find it very troublesome.
Hope retracted his aura, only then noticing that the underground space had been ravaged beyond recognition by the power he had just released.
He snapped his fingers, and the 'Arc of Time' was activated. The messy surroundings instantly rewound, returning to their state before the destruction.
Hope also took the opportunity to restore the massive magic crystal that had preserved Mavis's body. Precht had been able to create the 'fairy heart', and this thing had played a certain role in that.
Mavis snapped out of her surprise. Although she had seen Hope's battle where he thrashed Zeref and knew that the intensity of his energy, called 'Magnetic Field Power', was above magic power...
She never expected he could even forcibly expel the curse ankhseram cast on him. Of course, this was also because the curse hadn't fully integrated into his body yet.
Suddenly, magic felt quite boring.
Hope didn't notice Mavis's little expression; he only knew that in his first clash with a complete god, he had won.
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