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Cold mist condensed into ice crystals.
A hundred-meter-diameter Magic Circle stretched across the ground of Sun Village, and tens of thousands of ice spikes wove into a birdcage barrier mid-air. The biting cold seemed to freeze everything.
Under the pervasive purple cold, the Eternal Flame—which had burned for four hundred years—was suppressed, dimming at an incredible speed, like a flickering candle in the wind.
Facing the ice magic directed at him, the Hellfire Dragon was utterly defenseless.
Watching the faltering Hellfire Dragon and the chilling aura that unreservedly enveloped the entire village, Natsu was furious. The Fire Dragon's Roar, which Noah had suppressed earlier, could finally erupt.
Blazing flames shot through the fiery red Magic Circle, a massive breath rushing directly toward the mysterious person in the ice mist.
However, the erupting Dragon Slayer flames, after only a few seconds of contact with the cold, were frozen mid-air into an elaborately sculpted ice statue.
Looking at the ice statue shattering into pieces on the ground, Natsu's pupils suddenly contracted.
Freezing fire magic?!
And by the time Natsu reacted, an ice arrow carrying immense chill had already arrived before him. Under the lock of endless cold, Natsu's newly ignited Dragon Slayer flames were forced to extinguish before they could even spark.
Powerful, fierce, absolute!
Natsu couldn't withstand such an attack, but thankfully, he wasn't alone.
Gray flashed to Natsu's side, clenching his fists. A thick, sculpted ice shield rapidly rose from the ground, blocking between them and the purple ice arrow.
However, the power contained in the ice arrow far exceeded Gray's expectations—or rather, Gray overestimated his own strength.
The moment the ice shield was pierced, the endless cold froze Gray and Natsu. Juvia's Water Magic, which came to their rescue, was also completely suppressed by the ice arrow.
Behind the explosive, spreading cold were three people encased in ice.
Watching her three companions instantly turn into ice statues, Lucy swallowed. Although she'd immediately summoned Loke, she had no intention of attacking.
It wasn't that she didn't dare, but that going up would be pointless.
In the ice mist, the mysterious Ice Mage who still hadn't revealed his true face was indeed that powerful.
However, Titania was no weakling either.
Erza, who had already Requipped into her Purgatory Armor, had the strength to challenge and fight that hateful enemy who attacked without warning.
But someone, oblivious, stood in the Queen's path.
The red-haired girl looked, only to see Noah—who had been sitting on the edge of the altar watching the show—now standing in the middle of the road, looking at the figure in the ice mist as if he'd seen some rare treasure.
To defeat Natsu, Gray, and Juvia simultaneously with one move—Erza admitted she was still a bit short of that level, but the guy in front of her could certainly do it.
"Noah, what did you find?"
Erza couldn't help but ask, only to receive a light response from Noah. "Nothing much. You'd be the same if you saw an animal that had been declared extinct."
Erza frowned, feeling that riddlers were truly annoying. Didn't he know she hadn't read many books? Even if an extinct animal appeared before her, she wouldn't recognize it.
"Stop acting cultured. If you're so amazing, hurry up and save Natsu and the others for me."
Gently pushing down Erza's serrated greatsword from his throat, Noah turned and walked to the three frozen companions. Devil Slayer flames, like falling petals, came and went quickly, instantly freeing the three from their inescapable icy prison.
As soon as he gained freedom, the hot-headed Natsu still wanted to charge, but Gray and Juvia held him back firmly. Having experienced the enemy's powerful magic, they wouldn't let Natsu recklessly rush to his death.
"Gray, just hold me like this—otherwise I'll definitely beat that bastard who hurt Atlas Flame!"
Hearing Natsu's shouts, Gray's mouth twitched.
They'd just been instantly defeated by that mysterious Ice Mage—all three of them. How could this guy still confidently shout such nonsense?
Of course, it's because he's Natsu...
After a mental scoff, Noah directly faced the mysterious person in the ice mist. "This is the first time I've seen a Devil Slayer Mage other than myself."
"Me too."
A cold male voice came from the ice mist. Not wanting to show his face even at this point—he truly lived up to being an ice magic user, whose main characteristic was aloofness.
However, the mysterious person's attitude toward Noah was quite rude. "Since you wield Devil Slayer Magic, why would you aid and abet evil, helping a demon?"
"Demon?"
The mysterious person's question made Noah instantly understand the reason.
He'd frozen Natsu and the others with one move earlier, but in reality, the mysterious person had no intention of harming them. Instead, he harbored immense killing intent toward the Hellfire Dragon.
So he'd mistaken the Hellfire Dragon for a demon.
After all, that black and red mixed hellfire certainly had a somewhat sinister first impression.
Noah shook his head. "You're mistaken. The Eternal Flame is not a demon. He is the founder and guardian of this village, protecting Sun Village for four hundred years."
Noah's explanation made the mysterious person in the ice mist fall silent.
He recalled that after he entered the village, those Giants who'd enthusiastically greeted him—upon learning that he'd come to eliminate the demon Eternal Flame—all changed their attitude toward him, clamoring for him to leave.
The mysterious person had thought the Giants were brainwashed by the demon and had frozen them for convenience in his subsequent actions, believing everything would return to normal once the demon was eliminated.
Looking closely at the flames on the altar, the mysterious person finally confirmed that the other party had not the slightest demonic aura, just a rather...
In the end, it turned out to be a huge misunderstanding on his part.
"My apologies."
The mysterious person was not an unreasonable individual. With a wave of his hand, the ice Magic Circle surrounding Sun Village immediately dissipated, and the cold Magic Power vanished. All the frozen Giants were released.
As the ice mist obstructing their view cleared, the mysterious person finally revealed his true face—a somewhat handsome middle-aged man in armor with a gray cloak.
However, the Fairy Tail group felt a strange sense of familiarity with the mysterious man. Before they could figure it out, Gray's stammering voice rang out.
"Fa... Father, you're not dead?!"
Noah and the others suddenly understood. That inexplicable sense of familiarity came from Gray's resemblance to him, didn't it?
Wait, what did Gray just call that man?!
"He's your father?"
"Your dad is alive?"
"Congratulations, Gray—your father won the resurrection match."
Thud! Thud!
Except for Lucy, who spoke first and was the most polite, Natsu and Noah—who had joined in the commotion—were punished by Erza's iron fists, crouching down and clutching their heads in pain.
"If you can't speak properly, don't speak."
Looking at a genuinely pained Natsu and a feigning pain Noah, Erza wished she could kick Noah twice more. This guy was increasingly developing into a scoundrel.
Gray, however, didn't pay attention to his companions' words. All his attention was focused on the middle-aged man opposite him. He hadn't seen wrong—that was his father, the one who'd fought Deliora.
Silver Fullbuster!
Amidst his excitement, Gray quickly became alert. He'd personally witnessed his father's death and confirmed it.
But why? Why was his father alive again?
And he'd transformed from an ordinary villager into an Ice Devil Slayer Mage far stronger than himself.
What had his father experienced all these years?
Watching Gray try to suppress his emotions and regain his composure, a satisfied smile flashed across Silver's lips. He was pleased with his son's growth, yet troubled, not knowing how to explain his "resurrection" to his son.
Should he tell his son that he was merely a resurrected corpse?
Or should he reveal to Gray that his father had become a demon's plaything?
Both were bad news, so perhaps it was better not to say anything.
"Nearly ten years unseen, Gray. You've grown."
"Let Father give you a gift to make up for missing your growth."
Silver's eyes turned cold. Having made his decision, he suddenly attacked, one hand grasping Gray's neck. A bone-chilling cold penetrated directly into Gray's flesh.
Gray felt an irresistible, powerful magic invading his body. The pervasive cold reached his bones, and the pain made his body convulse uncontrollably.
"Farewell, son..."
Listening to Silver's low, sorrowful voice, Gray's eyes were filled with confusion.
He didn't understand why his father—after a long-awaited reunion—would give him a gift that would take his life, nor did he understand the desolate relief in his father's eyes.
Just as Gray was despairing.
Just as the others were forced back by Silver's sudden burst of immense magic, the white-haired youth approached, completely unaffected, his leisurely stroll appearing quite relaxed.
One hand silently pressed onto Silver's arm.
The Devil Slayer power of the same attribute severed the magic Silver had injected into Gray's body.
A stronger Devil Slayer ice than Silver's—with absolute authority and control—meticulously extracted the magic invading Gray's body, returning it to its owner, who was so oppressed by Noah that he couldn't move.
Meeting Silver's astonished gaze, Noah smiled slightly.
"Uncle Silver, after such a difficult father-son reunion, do you want him to experience the pain of losing his father again?"
"I'll decline this fatal gift on Gray's behalf."