The plan involved arriving without warning.
Multiple dark figures stepped out of compressed air and shadow, boots touching ground in perfect silence. Spacing was precise. Angles deliberate. Everyone was standing on the outskirts of the city, unknown to Fairy Tail's mages.
"Positions set," one of them said quietly, ethernano-thread communication snapping open between the group. "Targets marked." They didn't use lacrima for fear of alerting the guild mages. Instead, a specialised mage was present for communication.
"Remember," another voice replied, calm and practised. "We're not here to fight them. We're here to keep them busy." According to their orders, they need to do everything to keep the mages busy.
Magic ignited across the perimeter.
Fire lanced downward. Metal spikes tore free from the ground. Shockwaves rippled toward streets and guard towers—not killing strikes, but loud ones, aimed at creating as much panic as possible.
"Pressure the city," the lead voice ordered. "They'll respond. They have to."
They did.
Just not the way expected.
The air thickened.
Spells collided with something invisible and rebounded violently—fire flattening outward, metal screeching as it warped mid-flight. A vast dome shimmered into existence, enclosing the entire city in a single, seamless barrier.
The attackers froze.
"…That's a city-scale barrier," someone muttered.
"No," another said sharply. "Impossible. That kind of output—"
In his entire life, he hasn't seen such a big barrier.
"Is this what it means to be a S-rank?" Another one muttered, clearly awed.
"Doesn't matter," the leader snapped, regaining his composure. "It won't last. Resume. Break it."
They attacked again.
—
Kazu heard it before he saw it.
Not the explosions—the change. A low, spreading pressure, like the air itself, felt scared.
"That's a coordinated attack," he said, already turning. "Multiple entry points at the outskirts."
Cana looked up just as the first spells splashed harmlessly against the barrier. "They're attacking the city."
"Not to destroy it," Kazu replied. "They aim to keep us busy."
Erza's eyes followed the dome as it settled into place. "They want us pinned?"
"Yes," Kazu said. "And listening too. I feel like somebody is observing us."
Another impact rippled overhead, deeper this time. He didn't flinch—but his posture adjusted, grounding himself.
"They're testing the barrier," he continued evenly. "Seeing how fast I respond. How much I reinforce."
Cana swallowed. "And?"
"And while we're here," Kazu said, eyes narrowing toward the forest beyond the walls, "they're doing something else."
The city shook again.
By now, everyone in the city had become aware that the city was under siege.
Spell after spell hammered the barrier. The dome flexed, ripples running across it like water struck by hail.
Cana swallowed. "That's… a lot."
"It's sustainable," Kazu said. His voice was calm, but his eyes tracked every impact. "For now."
Erza stepped forward, fists clenched. "They're deliberately targeting civilian zones."
"Yes," Kazu replied. "They're not here to win. They're here to delay. Best way to keep us occupied."
As if summoned by the words, a runner burst into the square below them—one of the city guards, breath ragged, face pale.
"Wizard! Sir—there's a message."
The guard held out a crude crystal, still glowing faintly. A projection flickered to life above his palm.
In a dark room, multiple children appeared bound with chains. They looked frightened, yet unharmed.
A masked figure leaned into view.
"Hold your barrier," the figure said pleasantly. "Defend the city. If you come here, then don't blame me for what happens to the children."
The image is then cut, turning black.
Silence fell like a physical thing.
Kazu turned toward Cana.
He didn't even get a word out.
Cana already had her fortune cards in hand, thumb sliding along their edges as faint magic stirred. Her gaze wasn't on the city or the barrier anymore—it was somewhere else, distant and fixed.
"There's a ritual," she said. "Already started."
Erza's head snapped toward her. "Where."
"Outside the city, in forest-side." Cana frowned. "The pattern's unstable. Ugly. The children are part of it—but not the core."
Kazu's expression tightened. "Meaning?"
"They aren't required," Cana replied. "Which means they're just leverage. Insurance. If we leave, they die. If we stay, the city stays under pressure."
Erza inhaled sharply. "So they're forcing us to stall."
"Yes," Cana said. "They don't need us to lose. They just need us not to move."
The barrier rippled overhead again, deeper this time. Kazu adjusted his stance without thinking, reinforcing the layer that was under the most assault.
'Why does it always involve rituals? Do these dark guilds have no other means? If they wanted to do a ritual, why even form a coalition? To do a bigger ritual together?' Kazu internally sighed.
Somebody once said, if you give a beggar a golden bowl, he would still use it to beg.
Now, Kazu thinks he has seen it in actual play.
Erza turned to him. "Then we split."
Kazu looked at her.
"You hold the barrier," she continued, voice steady. "I take Cana and move fast. Get the children out before they realise what's happening."
"No," Kazu said immediately.
Erza's eyes hardened. "You didn't even let me finish."
"I heard enough," he replied. "That plan assumes I can guarantee the city's safety alone."
"You can," Erza said. "You're already doing it."
"For now," Kazu countered. "And only because they're testing. If they have a second trigger—another force we haven't seen—I won't be able to cover everything."
"You're speculating."
"I'm calculating," he said evenly. "And the margin is thin."
Erza stepped closer. "Those are children."
"And this is a city," Kazu shot back. "Thousands of people. If the barrier fails while you're gone, they don't die quietly."
Silence stretched, thick and strained.
Erza's voice lowered. "So you're saying we abandon them."
"I'm saying risking the entire city for a group of hostages is exactly what they want," Kazu replied. "And even worse—if you and Cana move, they'll know immediately."
Erza frowned. "How."
"They're watching us," he said. "They staged this to measure response. The moment you leave the perimeter, the kids stop being leverage."
Cana's breath hitched.
"They'll slaughter them," Kazu continued. "Not because they need to—but because they can."
Erza's jaw clenched. "So we do nothing."
"We choose," Kazu said quietly. "We just don't get to like it."
The words settled like ash.
'Though my heart had already become cold since the day I lost Yui, this is the first time I have taken such a drastic decision this quickly.'
Previously, Kazu had a conflict with Erza on a similar matter in the mission involving Anne a few years ago. However, that time it involved the danger to the lives of Kazu and his friends.
But today, it was just the danger of others, not them. So, Kazu decided on a completely neutral and calm pov.
During that mission, he had felt sympathy towards the sibling duo who died. Not because they perished due to his actions, but rather because they were children. Young kids.
But now?
Kazu recalled the image of kids he had seen in the crystal. Their young and frightened faces came to his mind.
Recalling this, Kazu's heart felt...nothing.
Nothing at all.
His heart and mind remained calm entirely.
'In these years...What have I become?'
He had felt slight unease, but it was not due to the decision itself, but rather to how he had made it.
He felt uneasy because the decision he had made was made with the same composure as thinking of what to eat for dinner.
Despite being a higher-ranked member of Fairy Tail, Kazu's cold personality is far from how most of the members are.
Kazu had noticed this multiple times previously, but in recent years, it had become more pronounced.
Sometimes he felt he didn't belong in the guild as if he were an outsider, not meant to be present. Knowing that he is a reincarnated person just made this fact more apparent, as he wasn't supposed to be present in this world.
Normally, even knowing this, Kazu wouldn't have felt much. If it were Kazu of years ago, he would have remained indifferent to this.
However, after the mission involving Anne, the walls around Kazu's indifferent heart had been shattered by the guild, specifically by his close friends.
He cared a lot about them, so the fact that he felt like an outsider just made it more painful.
Can somebody like him even understand guild members?
Can somebody like him truly connect with other guild members?
Can somebody like him...
even belong to Fairy Tail?