The room inside Balsam General Hospital was far quieter than it had been the previous day. Sunlight streamed through the tall windows, illuminating white sheets, hums of medical equipment, and seven recovering researchers who had spent the last several days unconscious after their disastrous encounter with the ruins.
According to the doctors, their conditions had stabilized overnight. According to Kai, they were taking entirely too long to wake up.
Which was why he currently sat on a wooden stool beside one of the beds, the black, three-eyed skull of the cursed Lullaby Flute pressed against his lips. The sentient mass-murder weapon looked thoroughly degraded by its current deployment as a glorified alarm clock.
A soft, eerie melody drifted through the room. The sleeping researcher merely twitched. Kai played another note, shifting to a slightly sharper cadence, but the man didn't so much as blink.
Kai lowered the flute, staring down at him with an utterly unimpressed expression. "...Pathetic."
Leaning forward, he poked the man directly in the forehead. Once. Twice. Three times.
The fourth poke finally shattered the subconscious barrier. The researcher jolted upright with a strangled, blood-curdling scream. "MONSTER!"
The shout exploded directly into Kai's face. Before Kai could even blink, the panicked man shoved outward with both hands. The stool tipped, gravity took over, and Kai promptly disappeared from sight.
CRASH.
A second later, the Head of the Research Department was lying flat on his back, upside down on the linoleum floor with the splintered remains of the wooden stool wrapped around his boots.
Silence filled the room. Then, Cana burst out laughing. It was loud, violent, and entirely unhelpful. She nearly spilled her drink, pointing an accusatory finger at the floor. "Oh gods—someone finally recognized you!"
Kai stared blankly at the ceiling tiles, remaining perfectly still for several seconds as he questioned every life decision that had led him to this exact moment. Eventually, he let out a heavy, world-weary sigh. "I regret saving all of you."
Nearby, doctors rushed toward the panicking researcher. The poor man looked half-crazed, sweat pouring down his face as his breathing came in ragged gasps while memories of the lower levels resurfaced.
Gradually, under the doctors' reassurance, his panic subsided. His vision finally focused, scanning the room until it landed on the giant figure currently climbing back to his feet.
Color immediately drained from the man's face. He looked as though he wanted the hospital floor to open up and swallow him whole. "M-Master Kai! I-I am so incredibly sorry!"
"No need to apologise, I'm pushing you down a flight of stairs later," Kai interrupted smoothly, brushing wood shavings off his coat. The researcher visibly flinched. Kai rubbed the back of his neck, glaring. "And how many times have I told all of you not to call me 'Master Kai'?"
The man opened and closed his mouth helplessly.
Kai pointed a thumb at his own chest. "It makes me sound like one of those ancient, dusty geezers who spend all day lecturing people about the theoretical foundations of magical matrices."
"You literally do that every Tuesday," Cana muttered from her chair.
Kai ignored her entirely. "Call me Boss."
The researcher nodded so fast he looked at risk of whiplash. "Y-Yes, Boss!"
Before anyone could say anything else, the commotion finally did its job. Several more researchers stirred awake from the neighboring beds. One after another, they sat upright—confused, disoriented, and instantly panicking as fragmented memories returned. Questions erupted in a chaotic wave.
"Where are we?"
"The ruins—what happened to the lower levels?!"
"The guardian monster—are we alive?"
Kai watched the frantic chatter for a few seconds, his expression completely blank. None of them noticed him standing there. Not a single one.
His left eye gave a sharp twitch. He raised his voice, cutting through the noise like a heavy broadsword. "OI."
The room froze instantly. Seven researchers slowly turned their heads, their expressions instantly morphing from panic to pure, instinctual dread.
Kai smiled. It was not a reassuring smile. "You all seem to have a lot of energy. Maybe I should begin calculating your disciplinary punishments for entering an unexplored, high-threat ruin with almost zero security preparation."
The atmosphere plummeted into a suffocating pressure. Every single researcher sat up perfectly straight, shoulders back, looking like soldiers awaiting a court-martial.
Cana watched with mild amusement. It was honestly strange seeing them react like this.
To her, Kai was just Kai—annoying, sarcastic, and dangerously curious. Yet moments like this reminded her that he wasn't just some random guild mage. He was Kairos Sunveil, Head of Fiore's Artifact and Research Department. He was one of the kingdom's foremost authorities on magical relics, responsible for overseeing dozens of government expeditions.
Apparently, people actually feared and respected him. For reasons she still didn't fully comprehend.
The first researcher lowered his head in shame. "I apologize for our negligence, Boss." Several others immediately followed suit.
Kai crossed his arms, his imposing frame casting a long shadow over the beds. The researcher hesitated before asking, a flicker of desperate hope in his eyes, "If you're here... and we're alive... does that mean the expedition succeeded?"
Kai nodded once. "I did."
The room collectively deflated. "...Oh."
"You did not," Kai added bluntly. "You failed miserably."
One researcher cautiously raised a hand. "What happened to the core?"
Kai reached into his spatial pouch. The inactive, dark stone idol drifted silently above his palm. The room fell into an awed silence as the researchers leaned forward, eyes wide.
"The core has been contained," Kai said, pocketing it again.
"And the monster?" another asked, swallowing hard. "The giant guardian shrugged off our highest-tier spells. It regenerated through everything..."
Kai shrugged carelessly. "It's dead."
Complete, utter silence. The researchers exchanged bewildered, disbelieving looks.
To just casually state it was dead sounded absurd after what they had witnessed.
Finally, someone voiced the burning question. "...How?"
"I am a professional in violence therapy," Kai replied smoothly.
Nobody knew how to respond to that. A third researcher tried to salvage the academic report. "What about the lower levels? The adaptive defensive runes? The localized gravity systems?"
Kai turned on his heel. "Classified."
The room collectively groaned. "Boss, please—"
"Classified."
"But the thesis report—"
"Still classified. Write your papers on the local flora outside the cave." Satisfied with their collective defeat, Kai headed for the door. "Get cleaned up, my average-brained minions. The train leaves in a few hours."
— BALSAM TRAIN STATION
Hours later, thick plumes of white steam drifted through the air as massive locomotives prepared for departure.
Travelers bustled across the crowded platforms, carrying luggage, supplies, and heavy parcels. After the claustrophobic, dark death trap of the underground ruins, the noisy, chaotic hum of civilization felt incredibly refreshing.
Cana stretched her arms high overhead, letting out a satisfied breath. "Finally. Civilization. No monsters. No ancient ruins. No underground traps." She turned a sharp glare toward the giant standing beside her. "We are not taking another subterranean mission for a very long time."
Kai slowly turned his head, his expression flat and entirely unimpressed. "Who's 'we'?"
Cana shrugged casually, adjusting her satchel. "You and me. We're a team now, partner."
"I don't remember agreeing to that contractual obligation."
"I didn't ask you to."
Kai hummed softly. "Yeah. That tracks perfectly with your brutish, uneducated, and aggressive personality."
Cana snapped her head toward him. "You know, one of these days, somebody is going to successfully punch you in the jaw."
Kai looked genuinely, structurally confused. "People try all the time. I usually just hit them back harder."
Before she could retort, a group of familiar figures approached through the steam. The researchers, recovered enough to travel but still looking thoroughly exhausted, bowed respectfully to Kai. Because this expedition involved government property, they were boarding the train to Crocus for formal debriefings, incident reports, and endless administrative evaluations.
In short: paperwork. Mountains and mountains of soul-crushing paperwork.
Looking at the researchers' folders, Kai honestly looked like he wanted to throw himself beneath the oncoming train.
Unfortunately, being a high-ranking department head came with bureaucratic responsibilities—a curse he deeply regretted every single day of his life.
Cana, meanwhile, had already chosen the vastly superior path: a train ticket straight to Magnolia. Fairy Tail. Alcohol. Absolutely zero government forms. A truly enlightened existence.
"Well," Cana said, stepping toward her platform.
Kai glanced over. "Well?"
"I'm heading back to the guild. You better not forget your promise, Sunveil."
Kai blinked, playing dumb. "Which one? I make a lot of empty promises."
Cana narrowed her eyes, a dangerous spark in them. "The S-Class Trial."
Kai looked genuinely thoughtful for a second before a small smirk played on his lips. "Did I say that? Must have been the cave air affecting my memory."
The look she gave him could have melted solid steel. Cana let out a heavy groan, throwing her hands up. "I don't have the energy for your nonsense today." She turned and started walking away, tossing a wave over her shoulder. "Good luck with the paperwork. I hope it's several thousand pages long."
Kai visibly suffered, his posture slumping as his soul practically left his body. "Why are you like this?"
Cana just grinned, her laughter echoing over the steam. "See you later, partner!"
Kai sighed, staring at his ticket to the capital. "Unfortunately."
MAGNOLIA — THE FAIRY TAIL GUILD
Meanwhile, far across the kingdom, business proceeded entirely as normal in Magnolia. Which meant chaos reigned supreme. A table exploded near the bar, someone screamed in rage, and a random Mage was thrown directly through a wooden wall.
In a quieter, elevated section of the guild hall, away from the flying furniture, Lucy Heartfilia sat at a large table with Mirajane.
They were surrounded by old shelves, stacks of dusty documents, and historical guild archives. Originally, they had volunteered to organize the old membership records, but at some point, they had become completely distracted by nostalgia.
Lucy held an old, slightly faded photograph carefully between her fingers, her brown eyes wide with wonder. The picture captured younger versions of the guild's core members—a frozen moment of a chaotic childhood.
Right in the dead center of the group was a small, winged blue dragon. Lucy pointed a finger at it. "So Happy really did hatch from an egg?"
Mirajane giggled softly, setting down a stack of papers. "Yep! Natsu brought it in, thinking it was a dragon egg. The whole guild ended up helping him take care of it."
Lucy stared at the photo, a sweatdrop forming on her brow. The bizarre argument Natsu and Happy had over a fish this morning suddenly made a tiny bit more sense. Her gaze shifted across the image. "Wow, look at Natsu and Gray here. They're practically toddlers."
"And they were already fighting every single day," Mirajane smiled warmly.
"Little Erza looks so adorable!" Lucy cooed, shifting her finger. "And wait... is this you, Mira-san?"
Mirajane laughed, a slight blush on her cheeks. "I've changed a little bit since then."
Lucy coughed into her hand, staring at the fierce, punk-goth teenage Mirajane in the photo who looked ready to challenge an entire dark guild by herself. Current Mirajane was smiling gently while serving strawberry cake. 'A little?' Lucy thought. 'They look like entirely different species!'
Then, Lucy noticed a surprisingly quiet figure. "Oh, that's Cana. Wow... she looks so shy and quiet here."
"Believe it or not, she really used to be," Mirajane noted. "She spent a lot of time keeping to herself when she first arrived."
Lucy found that completely impossible to imagine given Cana's current ability to barrel-chug hard liquor. Her eyes drifted to the edge of the photograph, landing on a blonde boy who stood slightly apart from the rest of the kids, looking brooding and distant. "Laxus?"
"Mhm. He was a lot quieter back then, before... well, before things got complicated with the Master."
Lucy studied the image closely. Then, her eyes caught one final, prominent figure standing right behind Laxus.
The boy reached the same height as laxus and had messy brown hair, thick bandages wrapped heavily around both of his forearms, and a confident, lazy grin. He had one arm hooked entirely around a young, irritated Laxus's shoulder, forcibly dragging the stubborn blonde fully into the center of the camera's frame.
Lucy's finger tapped the image instantly. "Wait a second. Is that Kai?!"
Mirajane leaned over, her smile widening. "Ah, yes! That's Kai. He and Laxus were quite close."
Lucy whistled, comparing the scaling. "Kai and Laxus were close? Somehow i believe it with how both of them look way bigger than everyone else in this group."
"Well, Laxus is a few years older than us and the others," Mirajane explained gently.
"And Kai?" Lucy asked. "Was he older too?"
"No, actually," Mirajane said with a cheerful hum. "Kai is the exact same age as us. He was just always naturally huge. When Natsu first joined the guild, he tried to challenge Kai to a fight, and Kai accidentally sat on him because he didn't see him down there."
Lucy stared blankly at the photo, imagining a younger, equally massive version of the sarcastic and annoying wizard. She let out an awkward, exhausted sigh. "Yeah... he's just a natural monster, isn't he?"
"Pretty much," Mirajane agreed happily.
And somewhere far away, completely unaware of the trip down memory lane happening in Magnolia, Kai sat aboard a train headed toward the capital, completely buried beneath a towering avalanche of government paperwork.
His greatest enemy had finally found him.