Moonlight spilled over the royal capital. Atop the giant statue outside the palace, three black-robed figures—one man and two women—stood silently, watching the palace.
Crime Sorcière, an independent guild formed with the mission of erasing the sins Zeref left behind, would naturally appear upon learning that Zeref's magic device, the Eclipse Gate, was about to activate.
Ultear glanced at Jellal. "Fairy Tail is lodged not far from here. Are you sure you won't go see her?"
Jellal started, then gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "I've no right to face her now. Let's finish the work in front of us first."
Ultear sighed. "What a stubborn man."
On this point, though, Ultear had little standing to speak. She bore most of the blame for how things had turned out.
Meredy hurried to change the subject. "Do we know the 'special situation' Mr. Charles asked us to watch for will actually happen?"
Ultear said, "From what I know, it shouldn't be possible. But it is Zeref's creation. Anything could happen."
In the realm of time, Ultear was an authority. Her Lost Magic, Arc of Time, was one of the very few known time-type magics.
By Ultear's understanding, no mage could use magic to travel through time.
She herself had more than once longed to return to the past before her separation from her mother, Ul.
Precisely because of that, she knew the mere attempt would draw a god's curse. It was a forbidden domain.
Zeref was different. He was synonymous with taboo, carrying the curse of the gods for who knew how long.
If anyone could interfere with time, Zeref would be the only one.
So even if Charles's claim that someone might travel through time sounded absurd, they had come to watch personally.
Just as the three were about to give up, Jellal suddenly stepped forward, his expression turning grave.
"Ultear, do you feel that?"
Ultear wore the same look and nodded. "Yes. A strange magic fluctuation—and a faint trace of Zeref's magic! Looks like that guy Charles was right again!"
Jellal said, "By Charles's account, if everything proceeds smoothly, this shouldn't happen.
We have to find that person at once and ask what happened in the future!"
Ultear agreed. "Then let's split up and search! Once you find them, go straight to Fairy Tail's lodgings to regroup."
They traded a look, then vanished in an instant.
…
At the Crocus Garden Hotel, Lucy had turned in early after the mess Raven Tail's Lubaca had made of her match.
But in bed, her face was tight with pain, her brows knit as if trapped in a nightmare.
And so she was. Everything in her dream was washed in gray.
High above, flame and darkness collided, until darkness swallowed the fire entirely.
Over the ruins of Fairy Tail, a claw sheathed in scales slammed down. Their banner, burning in midair, turned to ash.
Tears blurred her vision. No companions remained at her side.
A familiar figure walked up behind her, stepping between Lucy and the black claw.
"Hey! You bastard—how dare you do that to my family, my comrades!"
"Natsu, don't push it. There's no way out. Even Charles failed. We're out of hope!"
Lucy felt she must have been struck by something that broke her to say such words. Then Natsu turned his head with his same old smile.
"I don't despair."
As he spoke, the owner of the black claw lowered its head, and magic gathered in the maw it opened.
Lucy jerked awake and sat bolt upright.
Wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes, she couldn't shake the sadness and despair for a long time.
"That's odd. Am I just exhausted today? Why would I have a dream like that?"
Yawning, she lay back down.
In another room, Charles received Ultear's magic transmission and sighed.
His thoughts matched Jellal's. If someone had come from the future, then his plan had gone awry—and likely led to some tragedy.
More than questioning where he'd erred, Charles worried about the visitor from the future.
Whoever they were, they must have endured unimaginable pain to choose to cross the Eclipse Gate back to this moment in hope of changing something.
All he could do was use whatever information they brought to carve out a future where tragedy wouldn't happen.
He truly couldn't be sure where his plan would fail. All he could do now was wait for word from Jellal.
With his thoughts in turmoil, Charles didn't sleep a wink. The next day he shuffled into the stands to watch the matches, yawning nonstop.
With his mental stamina, he could go a month without sleep and feel no fatigue, but now it was his mind that was worn out, leaving him looking especially tired.
Oddly, Lucy had dark circles too, a picture of sleeplessness. Levy thought she hadn't recovered from yesterday's match and asked if she was okay.
Lucy forced a smile and waved it off. Seeing it was just fatigue, Levy didn't press her.
Charles offered a few words to reassure the worried Stella, then turned to the day's matches.
The first contest was Natsu versus Kagura, but the event was the worst possible one for Natsu: Chariot.
All contestants had to run along linked, speeding wagons, trying not to get flung off while crossing the finish line for points by placement.
That targeted Natsu's greatest weakness. Never mind running—just moving normally on the wagons was a feat of will for him.
Fairy Tail had two teams in this year, but they had agreed beforehand that on the field, they were all opponents and wouldn't cover for guildmates.
They all had their pride. They wanted to win, but not by dishonorable means.
So Natsu didn't ask Kagura for help, and Kagura didn't help him. Naturally, Natsu took last place.
The wheel turned—this time Gray got to lay it on thick, and of course the two started brawling again.
While they scuffled, the battle phase began.
Fairy Tail's first bout put Gajeel up against Bacchus of Quattro Cerberus.
In the first Grand Magic Games, Bacchus had broken mentally after running his mouth and getting handled by Charles. Six years on, he seemed to have recovered.
In the ring, he even lamented not drawing Charles, looking eager to regain face.
But his Drunken Mantle Palm couldn't crack Gajeel's iron defense, and he lost.
The second bout was downright surreal. Jenny of Blue Pegasus proposed settling it not with a fight, but with a gravure model showdown.
Given Erza's occasional tendency to go off the rails, she agreed without hesitation.
Jenny said her most hoped-for opponent was Mirajane; seven years ago they'd been vying for the number-one gravure girl, and now Jenny had firmly taken the crown.
Erza, though, was all too eager, and who knew why her Requip included so many strange outfits.
With her ever-shifting styles, she edged out Jenny.
Jenny's fighting spirit surged and she moved to throw down immediately, but a cover girl was no match for Titania—the Fairy Queen—who one-shot her.
And so Fairy Tail swept the day's battle phase.
______
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