Happy, Carla, and Lily lifted the heavy ventilation duct cover and dropped down into the room containing the airship's power source.
Carla and Happy stared blankly upward at the machine, horrified.
In contrast, Lily, being a veteran soldier, remained calm despite his shock.
"Grimoire Heart... so this is the literal devil's heart! Could it be..."
Suspended directly in front of the three Exceeds was a massive, beating, organic heart.
It was not contained within a human body, but fully exposed inside a glass lacrima chamber, and far, far larger than any ordinary human heart.
"How could there be noise coming from inside?!"
"Impossible, how did intruders get in?!" The dark mages guarding the entrance heard the mechanical clanking sounds from within and began shouting among themselves.
"We've been discovered!" Carla gasped.
"I'll hold off the enemies! You two hurry and find a way to stop this thing!" Lily ordered, drawing his tiny sword.
Lily stood bravely at the main entrance, waiting for the guards to breach the door.
Upon kicking the door open and seeing it was just a tiny cat, the guards immediately let their guard down, laughing.
"How did a stray kitten get down here?"
"Should we just step on it?"
"Take this!" Lily yelled.
He had picked up a sharp metal component earlier in the room and now threw it like a heavy boomerang.
The metal piece circled rapidly through the group of Grimoire Heart members, striking their heads before returning smoothly to Lily's hand.
"Damn cat, actually attacking us!" A Grimoire Heart member wielding a magic blade swung down furiously.
"Whoa!" The guard gasped.
The suddenly enlarged, muscular Panther Lily towered over him.
Lily used the guard's shock as an opportunity to punch him square in the jaw, sending the man flying down the corridor.
"Who the hell is this guy?!" The Grimoire Heart members were seeing for the first time a magical cat that could suddenly transform from a cute kitten to the height and build of a grown man.
"Don't retreat! Attack him!"
"I'll borrow this!" Lily grunted.
He grabbed a heavy greatsword with one hand, violently wrenching it from its owner's grasp.
With a massive horizontal sweep, Lily forced back the entire squad of Grimoire Heart mages.
The greatsword in Lily's grip magically enlarged to match his Battle Form, becoming the perfect size for Lily to wield effectively.
"Is this a magic sword that can freely change size? It's just like my old Musica Sword!" Lily grinned.
"Defend the core at all costs!" The members shouted, charging forward blindly.
"I really like this—finally, I have a proper weapon again." Ever since his precious Musica Sword was destroyed by Gajeel back in Edolas, Lily had been fighting bare-handed.
There was no helping it, he had no money to buy a new custom weapon and Gajeel was just as poor as him.
Lily brandished the massive greatsword and charged roaring toward the Grimoire Heart mages, clearing the path.
...
"The abyss of magic?" Gray muttered, deeply concerned by Precht's dark words.
Wendy was reacting physically to Precht's suffocating magical power, trembling and nearly unable to speak.
"Advancing along the true path of magic means willingly descending into the bottomless darkness of the abyss, where you will finally find the One Magic shining within the depths," Precht preached, his eye glowing.
"Just a little more... just a little more and I would have reached the First Magic. But this 'little more' is precisely the dark abyss of magic." Precht held his hand open, viscous purple magical power clenching within his grasp.
"What can fill this abyss is the Ultimate Magic World! The perfect world where Zeref exists! Tonight, with Zeref's grand awakening, the world will change accordingly, and I will finally obtain it—the First Magic!"
Raizel sighed from the rafters and used telepathy to convey a message to the fairies.
[Don't worry, guys. Zeref left the island long ago. I saw him leave with my own eyes. This old man is just delusional.]
"The First Magic?" Erza asked, puzzled by the lore.
"The First Magic? I feel like I've read about it somewhere before..." Lucy mumbled, finding the concept vaguely familiar from her books.
"You weak fairies can never reach the Ultimate Magic World! Because those like you lack the dark resolve to step into the abyss!" Precht roared.
"What kind of stance is that?" Gray asked, raising his guard. Precht spread his arms wide, turning them sideways with one in front of the other.
"Nemesis! Chapter Four, Verse Twelve—Hidden Magic!"
From the surrounding shattered rubble of the airship emerged grotesque monsters with strange patterns, composed entirely of viscous, purple-black magical power.
The sheer number of surrounding demons instantly nullified the Fairy Tail members' numerical advantage.
"He's creating monsters from the rubble!" Cana yelled.
"With abyssal magical power like mine, creating demons from mere earth and debris is not difficult. They can become dancers of the dark or even celestial judges. This is Hidden Magic!"
"Every single monster here is an aggregation of pure magical power filled with despair."
Having obsessively studied the Books of Zeref for years, Precht had attained profound mastery in dark magic.
Supported by his vast magical reserves, the surrounding magical aggregates appeared dense, heavy, and carried immense psychological pressure.
"I'm so scared..." Wendy whimpered.
Highly sensitive to magical power, she covered her eyes and crouched down, trembling uncontrollably under the demonic pressure.
It wasn't just Wendy.
"I'm actually trembling from fear..." Mira, Erza, and Ultear looked at their shaking hands in genuine confusion.
"What am I even afraid of... Damn it!" Gray was already forced onto both knees, barely supporting himself with his hands, his clenched teeth showing he couldn't hold on much longer.
Kagura was also forced down on one knee, stubbornly enduring the weight by leaning heavily on Archenemy.
"I'm too scared to keep going." Lucy tightly hugged Natsu's arm, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Someone... please give us courage..."
Only Laxus, resting exhausted against the wall, and Raizel, standing calmly at the forefront of the members, remained unaffected.
Raizel hadn't used Take Over yet, continuously observing these magical aggregates with academic interest.
'Disgusting, evil magic power... What kind of vile magic did Zeref write into that book? There's also a strange, creative aura to it...' Raizel contemplated the exact nature of this magical power.
Natsu's hand gently grasped Lucy's arm as he lowered his head, his face shadowed.
"Natsu...?" Lucy whispered.
"What is there to fear...?" Natsu asked softly.
"Aren't all our comrades gathered right here around us?" Natsu looked up, his eyes burning with defiance.
"Fear is not a sin. It just shows you truly understand your own weaknesses."
"Understanding your weaknesses can make people stronger... and kinder." Natsu had always had a poor memory, or rather, he couldn't be bothered to remember many things.
But Gildarts' harsh lesson in the cavern had left a deep, permanent impression on his soul.
Natsu repeated exactly what Gildarts had told him.
Erza, Ultear, Kagura, Mira, and Wendy all turned to look at the Dragon Slayer.
Natsu stood up, panting heavily, ignoring the crushing pressure.
"We've fully understood our weaknesses today. So what should we do next?" Natsu grinned.
"Of course, we face them bravely!"
"Alone, we might be scared and powerless! But aren't we all standing so close together right now?!"
Natsu stood tall, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Raizel as they gazed up at the army of demons created by Precht.
"When your comrades are right beside you... there's nothing left to fear!"
"Because none of us are fighting alone!" Dragging his exhausted, battered body, Natsu shouted with all his might, his voice cutting through the despair.
"An admirable display of childish vanity. Though unfortunately, this is as far as your fairy tale goes," Precht sneered.
"With comrades by your side..." Erza stood up, drawing a sword.
"There's no need to fear..." Gray grunted, rising to his feet and clapping his icy hands together.
"You're right, Natsu," Ultear smiled, readying her orb.
All the members gathered tightly around Natsu, their fighting spirit reignited.
---------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator