Chapter 353: Brilliant Flame of the Sun
Rumble...!!
Without warning, a violent, deafening tremor ripped through the very foundations of Plutogrim.
The massive floating island of the Underworld shuddered as if struck by the fist of a titan. Dust cascaded from the crystalline ceilings, and the bio-mechanical flesh that made up the fortress walls pulsed erratically.
"What's going on?!"
"This vibration... it feels like the whole island is falling apart!"
At that exact moment, every member of Fairy Tail scattered across the dark guild's headquarters felt the sheer, suffocating power behind the tremor. It wasn't just a physical earthquake; it was a deep, resonant pulse of magical energy that triggered a dreadful premonition in everyone's hearts.
Juvia Lockser gritted her teeth, struggling to maintain her balance as the water swirling around her trembled. She looked at the skeletal figure standing before her with a grave, deeply unsettled expression.
Keyes, the Pitch-Black Monk, remained entirely impassive, his hollow eyes glowing beneath his dark cowl.
"It seems... it is almost time..." Keyes murmured, his voice a haunting rasp that echoed like wind through a graveyard. He could already sense the monumental shift in the atmosphere. The unsealed Face pulse bomb had finally been activated.
Elsewhere in the labyrinthine corridors, a fierce and highly destructive battle was raging.
Mirajane Strauss, cloaked in the terrifying, clawed visage of her Satan Soul, parried a devastating roundhouse kick. The kinetic force shattered the stone floor beneath her boots, forcing her to slide backward, carving deep trenches into the ground.
She was panting heavily, her demonic aura violently clashing against her opponent. Despite her overwhelming strength, Mirajane found herself steadily losing ground.
She looked up at Seilah, the Etherious demon whose cold, elegant fury was a stark contrast to the brutal power she wielded.
Is this the innate power of a true demon? Mira thought to herself, wiping a smudge of dirt from her cheek. I've been far too lax in my training if I'm being pushed back like this.
In another sector of the sprawling fortress, a look of sheer, euphoric joy twisted Kyoka's features.
"Ah... It seems Face has finally been activated," Kyoka purred, her sadistic smile widening as she spread her clawed hands. "The shockwave is so immense that even the Underworld Island can feel it."
"Face? How can that be?!" Erza Scarlet's expression changed drastically, her grip tightening on her twin blades.
Her mind raced in a panic. The Former Magic Council Chairman, Crawford Theme, was supposed to be held tightly under Fairy Tail's guard. He was the only one who possessed the Super Archive magic necessary to transfer the activation keys to the demons.
Could someone have infiltrated Fairy Tail and assassinated the Former Chairman?! Erza thought, a cold sweat breaking out on the back of her neck.
"Face is active. The countdown has begun. Very soon, all the magic power across this entire continent will vanish completely!" Kyoka declared, her voice dripping with venomous triumph. "Your precious Fairy Tail, and every last pathetic human on this continent, are finished!"
Kyoka lunged forward, her lethal claws extending into deadly whips. "No matter how much you struggle, it's futile! You have already lost, humans!"
Meanwhile, Natsu Dragneel and Happy were swaying unsteadily on their feet, the violent tremors making it nearly impossible to hold their ground.
Hovering before them was Franmalth, an utterly grotesque, cyclopean demon whose fleshy body had mutated to adopt the terrifying visage and aura of Precht Gaebolg—infamously known as Hades.
"Kekekeke! It's starting to react to Face!" Franmalth laughed hysterically, the sound grating and manic. "The magic power of the entire continent is about to vanish into thin air!"
"How can this be?!" Natsu shouted, his eyes widening in horror.
Happy's ears drooped, his small body trembling. If the Former Chairman was truly dead and Face was actively counting down, then the humans of Ishgar were genuinely doomed.
"But before the magic disappears, you will hand over your souls to me!!" Franmalth roared.
He launched a relentless, devastating barrage of extending limbs and concentrated magical blasts. His fleshy appendages stretched like rubber, whipping through the air with lethal velocity.
Natsu hurriedly dodged, his dragon instincts flaring. During their grueling battle, he had discovered a terrifying truth: Franmalth possessed the ultimate defensive and offensive Caster Magic. He could absorb absolutely anything, whether it was physical kinetic force, elemental magic, or even human souls.
"I won't hand my soul over to a freak like you!!" Natsu bellowed, his fists igniting with crimson flames as he deflected a sweeping tentacle.
"Humph! It's impossible for a brat like you to win against me," Franmalth sneered, his single eye glowing with a sinister, deep purple light. "Have you forgotten? I still possess the supreme magic power of Hades!"
Franmalth raised his deformed hands, his fingers moving in a rapid, arcane sequence. Concentric, glowing magical formulas instantly constructed themselves in the air, locking onto Natsu's coordinates.
"Amaterasu: Formula Twenty-Eight!"
Boom——!!
A terrifying, spherical explosion erupted, expanding with apocalyptic concussive force. The shockwave obliterated the surrounding stone pillars, engulfing Natsu in a dome of searing purple energy.
When the smoke and magical residue finally subsided, Natsu lay sprawled on the shattered ground, covered in bloody wounds and burns, completely unable to move a muscle.
"So this... this is the power of Hades..." Happy whimpered, having been caught in the outer edge of the blast and thrown violently against a nearby wall.
Back on Tenrou Island, they had witnessed Hades being brutally and utterly dismantled by Ren. Ren had tossed the legendary Dark Guild Master around like a helpless ragdoll, completely eclipsing him in every conceivable metric. Because of Ren's overwhelming dominance, Natsu and Happy had never truly felt how apocalyptic Hades' strength was in reality.
Now, facing just a stolen fragment of that soul, they felt it.
Even though Franmalth's application of the magic was clearly vastly inferior to the original Hades, the sheer destructive output was still terrifying.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Franmalth didn't give them a moment to breathe. His grotesque arms elongated with sickening speed, his fingers spreading out into vile, fleshy tendrils that rapidly coiled around Natsu's battered body.
"This time, I will absorb your delectable souls." Franmalth's single eye bulged with greed. "Link!"
An ethereal, suffocating cold violently ripped through Natsu's chest. The Caster Magic forcefully latched onto his spiritual essence, beginning to drag it out of his mortal shell.
"Arghhhhh!!" Natsu let out a blood-curdling scream of pure agony, his back arching as the blue, wispy essence of his soul began to surface.
"Natsu!!" Seeing his best friend screaming in such torturous pain, Happy couldn't help but shout, tears pricking the corners of his eyes.
"You might as well join him!" Franmalth cackled.
Another fleshy arm whipped out, easily grabbing the Exceed. The agonizing suction immediately latched onto Happy, beginning to tear his tiny soul from his body as well.
"What... is going on..." Natsu choked out, his vision blurring. "My power... it's fading..."
"Become part of my collection! Your souls belong to me forever!!" Franmalth shouted excitedly, salivating as the delicious spiritual energy crept closer to his maw.
"Aaaaaah!!" Natsu roared, his fangs gritted so hard his gums bled. "I'm never... giving it to you... how could I give it to you... my soul is right here... but I will absolutely never let you have it!!!"
Hearing Natsu's stubborn, strained words, a mocking expression appeared on Franmalth's fleshy face. "Truly a futile struggle. You are merely delaying the inevitable."
"Before I reunite with Igneel... I... will absolutely not hand over my soul!! Nor will I surrender my will to you!! I must see Igneel... aaaaaah!!"
Boom——!!
Natsu threw his head back and roared to the heavens. It was a guttural, primal sound that transcended his limits.
Suddenly, an anomalous, scorching power surged from the deepest depths of his magical container. It wasn't the familiar, crimson-red heat of his Fire Dragon Slayer magic. It was something else entirely.
"Useless..." Franmalth began, but his words were abruptly cut off.
"Ughaaaaah!!!"
Franmalth let out a deafening, hysterical scream of pure, unadulterated pain. He violently snapped his tendrils back, rapidly withdrawing his arms from Natsu and Happy as if he had just grabbed a fistful of molten magma.
His fleshy body instantly caught fire. The flames weren't normal. They were a brilliant, blindingly majestic white-gold.
Franmalth crashed to the floor, rolling around frantically, his demonic flesh bubbling and charring.
"Waaaaah!!" Franmalth shrieked, clawing at his own burning skin. "So hot! So hot!! It's burning me to death! Why is it so hot?! It's too hot!!"
Seeing the horrifying cyclopean demon rolling on the ground and screeching like a dying pig, Natsu gasped for air. He stared at the residual golden warmth radiating from his chest, and an epiphany struck him.
"So that's it! As expected of Ren!" Natsu grinned, a triumphant fire returning to his eyes.
Back at the Giant Village—the Sun Village—he had consumed the residual flames left behind by Ren's overwhelming magic. That blindingly brilliant, divine fire possessed a magic power that completely surpassed even his Dragon Force.
According to Ren, the nature of that absolute, unquenchable magic was simply known as 'The Sun'.
It was only because Natsu possessed the iron-clad stomach of a Fire Dragon Slayer that he had managed to swallow those majestic flames in the first place without incinerating himself from the inside out. When he had melted the eternal ice that encased the village, he had only tapped into a small fraction of that golden fire. The remainder was still safely locked away deep inside his body, lying dormant.
Because he had been so intensely focused on the life-or-death battle, he had completely forgotten he still had this apocalyptic fire at his disposal.
Just a moment ago, when Franmalth had greedily attempted to siphon Natsu's soul, the demon had accidentally inhaled a tiny portion of 'The Sun's' magic power from Natsu's core. The result was instantaneous, internal combustion.
After agonizing seconds of thrashing, Franmalth finally managed to forcibly expel that foreign magic power from his system. He lay trembling on the floor, panting heavily, his entire body burnt black and smoking.
"You... you cursed bastard! What on earth was that magic power just now?! It almost burned me to ash!" Franmalth wheezed, sheer terror pooling in his single eye.
He had felt the genuine fear of death just now. It felt as if his very cells were melting. If it hadn't been for the unnatural, hyper-resilient demonic constitution of the Books of Zeref, and his desperate, timely expulsion of the flames, he truly would have been vaporized on a molecular level.
Whoosh——!
Flames erupted around Natsu's body. But this time, the fire didn't carry the familiar crimson hue of a dragon. It was the majestic, blinding, incandescent gold of Ren's Sun Fire.
The cavern was instantly illuminated by the divine radiance, the ambient temperature skyrocketing to unbearable levels.
"You... you bastard..." Franmalth stammered, his massive body shrinking back. He was horrified when he realized that the apocalyptic flames cloaking Natsu's entire body were completely identical to the ones that had just tortured him.
A savage, cruel grin stretched across Natsu's face, casting sharp shadows against the golden light. "You ugly bastard... weren't you enjoying absorbing my magic just now? Then I'll be generous. I'll let you absorb your fill!"
Franmalth was consumed by absolute terror. His survival instincts screamed at him to run. "No... no... don't come over here!!"
"Take this! Sun Punch!!!"
Natsu kicked off the ground with explosive force, shattering the stone beneath his feet. He closed the distance in an instant, wrapping the divine, golden-white flames densely around his right fist, and drove it brutally into Franmalth's bloated stomach.
"Ughaaaaah!!!"
The demon's single eye nearly popped out of his skull. The kinetic impact combined with the apocalyptic heat was devastating.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!
Franmalth was sent flying like a cannonball, his body violently smashing through thick demonic walls, iron pillars, and the reinforced structural beams of the Tartaros guild, reducing the architecture to flying shrapnel with just a single punch.
Not giving the demon an inch to recover, Natsu leaped high toward the cavernous ceiling of the guild.
He raised both of his hands, channeling the divine, blinding fire. The sheer heat began to warp the atmosphere around him, creating a localized vacuum.
"Merge the flames of my left hand... and the flames of my right hand together!" Natsu roared, smashing his palms together above his head. A colossal sphere of golden fire expanded, resembling a miniature, roaring sun.
"Brilliant Flame of the Sun!!"
Boom——!!
Natsu hurled the miniature sun downward. The resulting explosion was nothing short of a cataclysm. A dome of pure, incinerating light completely enveloped the entire sector of the Tartaros guild, melting the stone, the steel, and the demonic flesh alike.
The shockwave obliterated everything in its path, entirely vaporizing Franmalth upon impact. The demon didn't even have a chance to scream before he was erased from existence.
As the blinding light faded and the smoke cleared, a beautiful sight emerged from the molten crater. Countless points of ethereal, shimmering light flew upward from where Franmalth had been destroyed. Those were the thousands of innocent souls the demon had greedily devoured over the centuries. Now, with his death, they had all regained their freedom, ascending peacefully into the sky.
"Awesome!" Happy cheered, jumping up and down with tears of joy streaming down his furry face.
Phew——!
Natsu let out a long, heavy breath, exhaling a plume of white steam. The golden flames flickered and faded from his skin, returning to his inner core.
He slowly lowered his arms and looked down at his own fist, marveling at the residual heat still radiating from his knuckles. His mind drifted back to the man who wielded this fire as easily as breathing.
"So strong..." Natsu whispered, his eyes filled with absolute awe.
[Akarin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me!
Want to read ahead on our official home, or unlock 50 advanced chapters (plus an Ad-Free experience) to feed your addiction? Help keep this shameless translator alive here:
(P.S. Replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
🌐 Official Website: elysianreads[.]com
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters & Ad-Free): patreon[.]com/AkarinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/AkarinTL
🔗 All My Links: linktr[.]ee/AkarinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]