Chen Fan patted Wendy's small head. She looked up at him with confusion, wondering what he was doing.
Chen Fan gave her a gentle smile. "Wendy, you go ahead with Carla. I'll catch up in a moment."
Wendy shook her head stubbornly. "No! I want to go with Brother Chen Fan!"
Chen Fan rubbed his temples. The reason he had felt uncomfortable back then was precisely because Wendy was too clingy. The age gap was simply too large. To others, they might look like siblings, but in Chen Fan's mind, it felt uncomfortably like the "creepy uncle and little girl" trope.
He turned to Carla. "Take Wendy and go. I think the others might run into trouble."
"What about you?" Carla asked, looking up at him.
"Me? I think I'll head to the restroom to capture some 'aroma,'" Chen Fan joked.
"Then don't ever come back out!" Carla yelled. She grabbed Wendy's hand and ran toward the exit. Wendy felt a strange repulsive force emanating from Chen Fan's body, causing her hand to slip away involuntarily. She looked back at him in surprise, but Chen Fan only gave her another soft smile.
Once Wendy and Carla's silhouettes had vanished into the distance, Ichiya stepped up beside him. "Oh? So you also enjoy capturing aromas in the restroom, Chen Fan?"
"No, of course not. Isn't that your exclusive hobby? How could I possibly share it? Right? Hahaha!" Chen Fan laughed.
"Well, we should probably get moving, or we won't be able to catch up with them," Chen Fan said, cutting his laughter short.
Ichiya looked confused. "But didn't you just say you needed to use the restroom?"
"I was just lying to them. It's annoying having a kid chirping in your ear all the time, isn't it?" Chen Fan said as he stood up to leave.
Suddenly, Ichiya, lingering behind, spoke up. "Wait a moment. Before that, Chen Fan, I wanted to ask... I heard you once defeated Jose Porla, one of the Ten Wizard Saints. Is that true?"
"Oh, that? Actually, Jose was defeated by our Master, Makarov. I don't know where those rumors about me doing it came from."
"I also heard that before the battle between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord, you fought Makarov and seriously injured him. Is that true as well?" Ichiya continued his questioning.
Chen Fan's eyes narrowed slightly. A surge of killing intent, sharp as a blade, swept across Ichiya's face. The fake Ichiya broke into a cold sweat, nearly losing his transformation.
Just as the disguise was about to fail, everything went silent again, as if the killing intent had never existed. Chen Fan looked at Ichiya and said, "The Master was just going easy on me." He said nothing more.
The fake Ichiya didn't dare ask anything else. He had no idea if Chen Fan was about to turn on him. From the fake's impression, Chen Fan seemed to hold a deep grudge against the real Ichiya. Turning his back to Chen Fan, he whispered, "I see. Hearing that makes me feel a bit more at ease." As he spoke, he popped the cap off a small bottle.
"What is this... this stench?" Chen Fan clutched his nose, his legs giving out as he slumped to the floor.
Ichiya smirked. "This is a Perfume Magic designed to strip an opponent of their will to fight." He pulled out another bottle and opened it.
Chen Fan let out a cry of agony. "And this one stimulates every pain receptor in the body, causing total agony. No... it is a truly 'exquisite' fragrance, isn't it?"
Poof!
With a burst of smoke, the disguise dissipated. Two small creatures floated in the air where Ichiya had stood.
"Ah... we're back to normal. That guy named Ichiya is nothing but a pervert."
"He has no brains at all. What a useless adult," the two small figures said in high-pitched, childish voices.
Suddenly, a new voice cut in. A woman clapped her hands as she approached. "Alright, alright, stop complaining."
It was Angel of the Oración Seis.
"What... what is this..." Chen Fan gritted his teeth, glaring at Angel as if they were mortal enemies.
"I had that man copied," Angel explained. "Because of that, your entire plan is in the palm of my hand. By the way, that man seemed to really hate you."
The two small creatures scurried to Angel's side, seemingly seeking praise. "We can even master the thoughts of the people we copy!"
"What?!" Chen Fan's eyes widened in disbelief.
Then, abruptly, Chen Fan sat down cross-legged on the ground. He casually scratched his hair and sighed. "Man... how boring. I thought something interesting might happen, but this is just tedious. What a waste of my acting skills."
Angel recoiled two steps, her face filled with shock. "How is that possible? Weren't you hit by"
"Hit by what? The lottery? Come on, don't be so naive. There are things in this world that money can't buylike true love!"
"What are you babbling about?! Fine, have it your way! Open, Gate of the Scorpion! Scorpio!" Angel shouted. The Celestial Spirit of Scorpio manifested before Chen Fan.
"Kill him! Wait... where is he?"
"Uh, sorry, I have an urgent matter to attend to. Bye!" The moment Scorpio saw Chen Fan, he turned tail and vanished. It seemed the Celestial Spirit King had already warned the Twelve Golden Gates to never provoke Chen Fan. Curiously, it seemed Gemini hadn't gotten the memo.
"Oh dear, oh dear. Your Celestial Spirit ran away. Whatever will you do now?" Chen Fan asked teasingly. Angel backed away further. Chen Fan continued, "Actually, I wasn't planning on doing anything to you. I just wanted to ask... has your boss brought back anyone recently? Or perhaps a very large box?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Angel snapped. From the look in her eyes, she didn't seem to be lying. Chen Fan was genuinely confused. Was Jellal really blown to pieces without leaving a corpse behind?
While Chen Fan was lost in thought, Angel seized the chance to flee. Chen Fan didn't bother chasing her. Let her run; he didn't care much about the Oración Seis or Nirvana anyway.
Aside from taking Wendy, his only goal here was to confirm if Jellal was truly dead. If he wasn't, Chen Fan didn't mind putting a blade through his chest himself.
Thinking of this, a cruel smile touched the corner of Chen Fan's mouth.
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