Chapter 76: The Man Revived, Nirvana Activated (5)
Southwest of the Worthwood Forest.
Midnight had already defeated Ren, Eve, Hibiki, and Lucy, and was now engaged in battle against Natsu's group.
"Ice Make: Lance!"
"Ice Make: Eagle!"
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!!"
Spears of ice, an ice eagle, and Natsu's blazing fist all shot toward Midnight at once.
But without moving an inch, he simply waved his hand with a casual whoosh.
In an instant, the three mages' spells veered away from him — and struck each other instead.
"Gaaah?!"
"Arghhh!"
"Uwaaahhh!!"
"It's useless," Midnight said coldly. "Magic doesn't work on me."
Writhing from their own attacks, Natsu, Gray, and Lyon scrambled back to their feet, glaring at each other.
"Damn it, Natsu! What the hell are you doing?!"
"You're one to talk — why'd you attack me?!"
"You're both idiots!" Lyon snapped.
While the three bickered, Sherry rushed to pull the unconscious Lucy and Hibiki away from Midnight's feet, then tried casting her doll magic from the rear.
But just as Midnight declared, her spell rebounded onto herself. Sherry collapsed, fainting instantly.
Seeing her fall, Lyon lost all composure and charged straight at Midnight.
"Sherryyyy!! You bastard!!"
"Lyon, don't rush in like an idiot!" Gray warned.
"Ice Make—"
Midnight's crimson eyes glinted. "Playtime is over."
"Gghhh—?!"
"Lyon!"
Before he could complete his spell, Lyon's coat suddenly writhed and twisted like a snake, wrapping tightly around his neck. Strangled by his own clothing, he blacked out within moments and crumpled to the ground.
Enraged, Gray summoned a massive ice hammer and swung it down at Midnight.
"Ice Make: Hammer!!"
"I told you… magic doesn't work on me."
"What—?!"
The hammer dissolved midair, distorted and unraveled just like Lyon's coat.
Exposed in that instant, Gray barely had time to react before Midnight's hand snapped forward. His open palm struck like a blade — straight into Gray's vital point.
Midnight's hand chop pierced straight into Gray's abdomen, blood spraying as Gray coughed violently and collapsed unconscious.
"Gghhhk…?!"
"Gray!!"
"I'm not soft like the others. You all die here."
"You bastard!!"
Disgusted by the sticky blood on his hand, Midnight flung Gray's limp body directly at the charging Natsu.
Natsu caught Gray midair, the force throwing him back and skidding across the dirt in a spray of dust until he crashed down beside the unconscious Sherry.
Seeing his fallen comrades — Gray, Lyon, Sherry, even Hibiki and Lucy lying near — fury blazed in Natsu's eyes.
"Natsu…"
"Lucy!"
Just as Natsu tried to stand, a weak hand seized his wrist.
Lucy had regained consciousness. Surprised, Natsu turned, and Lucy forced herself to speak, telling him what she had realized about Midnight's magic.
"His magic… it's refraction…"
"Refraction?"
"Yes… he can refract everything except the human body itself. Loki proved it before he vanished — even his light bent away. Which means… he's constantly surrounded by invisible refractions."
Natsu scowled, scratching his head. "And what the hell does that mean?!"
"Haa…!" Lucy gasped in frustration.
"That means it's not just some simple magic barrier!" Sherry shouted hoarsely, having barely regained awareness. "He bends and twists everything around him!"
"Like I care!" Natsu roared.
"What—?!" Lucy blinked.
"Then I'll just beat him down until he can't bend anything!"
"Natsu!"
"Haa… this is why idiots are impossible to deal with," Midnight muttered, his lips curling. "Magic doesn't—"
"I already know that!!"
"—What?!"
Before Midnight could finish, Natsu charged head-on, ignoring magic completely. He didn't summon flames, didn't call upon a dragon's spell.
He simply threw his fist.
Midnight, expecting an enchanted attack he could refract, stood relaxed. He never anticipated a raw, unfiltered punch.
Natsu's fist slammed directly into his jaw.
"GuhhhAAAGHH!!"
"I told you… all I have to do is beat the crap out of you!!"
"St… stop…!!"
"Like hell I will!"
"Ghhkkk?!"
The blow rattled Midnight's skull, shaking his brain with concussive force. Any normal human would've blacked out instantly. But Midnight clung desperately to consciousness, snarling. His crimson eyes flared as his magic surged — and suddenly Natsu's clothes twisted violently, constricting around him like serpents.
Midnight's grip over Natsu snapped the moment fire erupted across the boy's body, burning away the constricting clothes without hesitation.
Smoke and ash scattered as Natsu, bare-chested and blazing, lunged forward.
"This isn't enough to stop me!"
His fists hammered into Midnight again and again.
"UghhhAAAAGHH!"
"Until you're beaten down—!"
"Sto… stop…!"
"I'll never stop!!"
The repeated strikes drove Midnight into a spiral of panic and disbelief. His perfect magic — the ability to refract all things — should have made him untouchable. No spell could land, no strike could reach.
Yet here he was, reeling beneath the fists of a reckless, magicless brawler.
"Hhhahhh… ghkk…"
"And now—try blocking this! Fire Dragon's… Iron Fist!!"
Natsu's fist ignited into a blazing dragon's strike, slamming forward with overwhelming force.
Midnight glimpsed it in the final heartbeat — the great flaming dragon's punch descending on him — and then he was gone, hurled across the forest like a meteor.
The ground quaked, dirt exploded, and when the dust cleared Midnight lay buried in the wreckage, unmoving. His chest heaved faintly, eyes half-lidded. Above him, the sky glittered with stars.
"Aahh… my prayer… all I wanted… was to sleep… in a place with no voices…"
His hand reached upward toward the heavens… then fell limp to the ground. Midnight closed his eyes.
....
Farther west in the forest, a new tremor stirred.
Above the unconscious Brain's body, his staff, Klodoa, hovered anxiously, shrieking.
"The Six Demons… defeated?! No! It can't be! He is coming back!!"
Klodoa darted in circles, trembling as it saw the markings carved into Brain's face begin to vanish.
"The other persona… the mind called Brain collapses! The bindings have broken! Now, the master of Oración Seis… Zero awakens!!"
With a heavy silence, the six lines across Brain's face dissolved.
His eyes snapped open.
The fractured identity that Ciel's illusian had crushed was gone. In its place, the true master emerged — Zero, the destroyer who lived only for ruin.
Klodoa immediately dropped from the air, bowing low in fear and reverence.
"Welcome back… Master Zero."
"O… oh! You have returned, Master Zero!"
"Things have gotten rather entertaining, haven't they, Klodoa? Even Midnight has fallen, you say?"
"Y-yes! I… I beg your forgiveness!"
Zero, reborn, tore off Brain's signature robe, baring his hardened body as he rolled his shoulders and stretched, reveling in his return.
Then, with a booming laugh, he declared:
"Well now… it's been too long since I've felt this! This body… this voice… this magic… all of it, how nostalgic! And to think—someone even went so far as to erase Brain's pathetic persona entirely. Hah! That debt—I'll repay with my own hands!"
"O-of course, Master!"
Zero drew a deep breath, loosening his stance. At that moment, the earth rumbled and the towering pillar of light collapsed. Before his eyes, a colossal city rose, supported by six vast legs, climbing into the heavens.
Zero threw back his head and roared with manic laughter.
"Khahahahahaha! At last—reborn! Nirvana awakens once more! Uwahahahahahaha!!"
"Th-that… that is Nirvana, without a doubt…! But who in the world—"
"Whoever triggered it, I don't care. I owe them a little thanks… and I intend to deliver it in person."
Still laughing, Zero launched himself upward with monstrous power, leaping onto the floating city of Nirvana.
....
"Ciel…!!"
Within Nirvana's core, I found Erza kneeling, tears in her eyes as she cradled Jellal in her lap. Nearby, Cobra strained desperately against the complex collapse seal that Jellal had unleashed.
"Erza, are you alright?"
"I… I'm sorry. When I saw that Jellal was alive, I—"
"No. Don't apologize. Thanks to you, I was able to see his true heart."
I gently brushed the girl's trembling hair as I pressed my hand over the glowing seal carved into Jellal's abdomen. His voice echoed faintly through the light—proof that he wasn't just an empty phantom.
Though he had lost his memory, though he seemed nothing more than a broken shell, he had come here of his own will… and chosen to sacrifice his life to destroy Nirvana.
He was no longer a puppet. This was the Jellal Erza had once known—the righteous, kindhearted boy who acted on his own will.
"The Autonomous Collapse Array… troublesome, but hardly beyond me. I've seen far more complex rituals than this."
I murmured as my mind unraveled the formula, calculating and dismantling its very foundation. Normally, without the release code, such a spell would be impossible to break. But if one attacked the core itself… the array could be destroyed without needing to unlock it.
In a breath, the glowing seal unraveled into nothing.
"The magic circle… vanished?!"
"It was intricate, yes. But before me… such things are meaningless."
"Ciel… thank you…" Jellal whispered, exhaling as if a crushing weight had been lifted.
"Kyaa~ our master is the best~!"
Erza sighed in relief, while Sorano slipped beside me unnoticed, linking her arm through mine with a playful smile.
But it was not over yet.
Jellal had embedded the release code for Nirvana's "Autonomous Collapse Array" into his body.
The fact that the array that was destroying his body vanished meant the array that was tearing Nirvana apart had been destroyed as well.
"W-what…?!"
"What's happening?!"
"Nirvana is fully activating."
The ground shook and a feeling of weightlessness overtook our senses.
The power of that massive reversal spell made my head spin.
Concentration slipped, my mood sank, and a searing headache hit me all at once.
I struggled to resist with everything I had, but in the end Nirvana's wave forced me to my knees.
"Kuh…!"
"Ciel!"
"You?!"
Seizing the opening I'd shown, Cobra lashed out — riding on his venomous serpent and charging at us.
"Hahahaha! I hear it. The sound of your tortured thoughts! I'll kill you myself first!"
"Foolish words…"
"Ugh?!"
Gathering my wits, I gripped a stone of mist and opened a gate.
I couldn't produce a full-blown colossal door instantly, but this would be enough.
A portal formed in the air and a huge azure demon hand reached through and grabbed Cobra.
"You really think someone like you can harm me? I don't like that at all."
"Uuuuugh…?!"
"Disintegrate!"
With all its might, Rabiel's palm crushed Cobra. The impact slammed into the earth and Cobra screamed as he was driven down through the ground and fell out of sight.
Through the hole in the earth I could see the trees of the forest far below. The floating sensation I'd felt — perhaps the whole landmass was being lifted into the air.
"Hah…"
"Ciel, what's wrong?!"
"Are you okay?"
"It's nothing. I saved Jellal… but Nirvana has activated. I'm terribly… sorry."
Jellal's life had been saved.
We had felled every member of Oracion Seis except one.
But our actions had inadvertently triggered Nirvana — and it was my fault.
When I apologized to Erza, she shook her head.
"No — if you hadn't, Jellal would be dead. I'm… actually grateful."
"But Nirvana—"
"We still have comrades left. If we pool our strength, we can break this giant spell."
"Erza—"
"Hey, don't forget I'm here too, okay?"
"Y-you're… one of Oracion Seis's…?"
"Angel."
Sorano — who had been listening to Erza and me — stuck out her lower lip and called to Erza with a pout.
Erza cocked her head and looked at Sorano.
"Could you stop bothering my master? You look like you're dating Jellal or something. If you like someone, don't straddle two people."
"W-what… two-timing?! Ciel, what is this woman talking about?"
"Kufufufu… who knows… kuh…!!"
"Ciel!"
I tried to answer Erza's question and get to my feet, but an unbearable force gnawed at my mind, sending me crashing back down in agony. The closer I was to the heart of this magic, the more it drained me, hollowing me out with an indescribable sensation.
Seeing me falter, Sorano hurried to my side and caught me, pulling me into her arms to help me up again.
But in that very moment—
"Wa… watch out—!!"
"Ungh…?!"
"Ciel! Angel!"
Sorano suddenly shoved me down to the ground. My eyes widened in confusion at her sudden move—then I saw it.
A streak of black light pierced straight through her chest. Coughing blood, Sorano collapsed into my arms.
"S-Sorano…?"
"Khuhk…!"
"What is this…?!"
I froze, stunned by the sight of her warm blood flowing over my hands. My eyes widened, trembling with shock.
Then, from the direction the blast had come, a coarse, mocking laugh rang out.
"So Nirvana's activation was thanks to you? I truly owe you my thanks."
"You… Brain?!"
"...Brain, you say?"
At Erza's words, I turned my head. Standing there was a man with disheveled hair, his upper body bare—Brain.
Impossible.
The illusion I cast on him should have been absolute. Even if broken, he should have remained a hollow husk, unable to recognize himself.
And yet—here he was.
As I reeled in disbelief, he smirked with a cruel laugh, taunting us.
"I am the true self sealed within the shell called Brain… Master of Oración Seis—Zero."
"Zero…"
At his words, I understood.
A man born with multiple selves.
What we call split personality.
If one self was destroyed, another slumbering within his mind could still rise to the surface…
"From this moment on, Nirvana belongs to me."
The sudden appearance of Zero made it clear—our battle was far from over.
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