Chapter 482: I Want Them Dead
"Hm? What material? Oh, you mean that angel being carried over. Put him down here," Noah's Thought Projection instructed, immediately understanding what Sorano was referring to.
Sorano nodded and commanded the two uncorrupted angels to drop the possessed one onto the dirt.
"Your physical body took quite a beating. Do you want me to take a look, Capricorn?" Noah's projection asked, turning to the goat-man who was currently leaning heavily on Loke.
"There is no need, Lord Noah. Once I return to the Celestial Spirit World, these injuries will naturally heal," Capricorn politely declined, shaking his head.
"The Celestial Spirit World?"
Hearing the specific terminology, Lucy and Yukino perked up and immediately walked over.
"Yep. This is Capricorn, the Celestial Spirit of the Goat, one of the Twelve Zodiacs," Noah introduced him with a smile.
"EH?!" Lucy and Yukino gasped in unison. The rest of the group also stared in surprise.
They already knew Loke was a Zodiac Spirit, but to find out that one of the top commanders of the invading dark guild was also a Zodiac Spirit? And that he was apparently an ally now? The whiplash was real.
"Wait a second. Did you know he was a Celestial Spirit from the very beginning?!" Sorano narrowed her eyes, glaring suspiciously at Noah's projection.
"Nope. I only realized it when you brought him over just now. Besides, since you were fighting him, I wasn't worried. I knew you'd handle it," Noah's projection smiled innocently.
"True. With me on the job, victory was guaranteed!" Sorano preened, instantly mollified by the praise.
"DAMMIT! YOU BASTARDS! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"
The possessed angel lying in the dirt began screaming and cursing violently.
Noah's projection frowned in annoyance. With a casual flick of his wrist, he inscribed a silencing and paralyzing rune over the angel. The screaming was instantly muted, leaving the angel to thrash mutely on the ground. A collective sigh of relief washed over the group, especially Wendy and the younger girls.
"Alright, let's hear it. What exactly happened to you?" Noah asked, turning back to Capricorn.
The group gathered around curiously. Capricorn took a moment to organize his thoughts before speaking.
"It began twenty years ago. Lady Layla—Lady Lucy's mother—fell gravely ill and decided to retire from her life as a mage."
"Wait, my mother?!" Lucy gasped, her eyes widening.
"Yes. Capricorn's previous contractor was your mother, Layla," Loke confirmed softly.
"Now that you mention it... I think I vaguely remember my mother telling me something like that when I was very little," Lucy murmured, searching her memories.
"When she retired, Lady Layla entrusted her three Zodiac Keys—Aquarius, Cancer, and myself—to three of her most loyal servants. Lord Zoldeo was the one chosen to inherit my key," Capricorn continued.
He paused, a solemn expression crossing his goat-like features. "However, before we parted ways, I made a separate, secret pact with Lady Layla. I swore that I would protect her family for eternity. Furthermore, I promised that if her child ever chose the path of magic, my power would automatically belong to her."
"So the contract automatically transferred to Lucy?" Loke asked.
"Ehhhh?! What is happening?!" Lucy's brain was short-circuiting trying to process the information.
"It means you are Capricorn's true contractor. In other words, you just inherited another Zodiac Key," Sorano explained simply.
Sorano quickly counted the keys in her head and gasped in surprise. "Wait, if we tally them up, our guild currently possesses eleven of the twelve Zodiac Keys! The only one missing is Pisces!"
"Actually, we have all twelve," Noah corrected her, reaching into his spatial pocket. He pulled out a gleaming golden key and tossed it lightly in his hand. "I found the Pisces Key a while ago. So, Fairy Tail officially holds the complete Zodiac set."
"What?! When did you find that?!" Sorano stared at the key in shock. Ultear and the others also leaned in, highly intrigued.
"Recently. I originally planned to give it to Yukino immediately, but I realized I might need it for a specific magical experiment I'm working on, so I held onto it. Once I'm done with it, I'll transfer the contract to Yukino," Noah explained.
"I'm holding you to that! No take-backs!" Sorano declared instantly.
She knew exactly how massive a power boost a Zodiac Key provided to a Celestial Spirit Mage. Given that Noah literally never used Celestial Spirit Magic in combat, hoarding a Zodiac Key was a massive waste. She was absolutely going to make sure her sister got it.
"Of course. I always intended to give it to her. I won't go back on my word," Noah rolled his eyes with a laugh.
"Yukino! You're going to get a new friend soon!" Lucy cheered, genuinely happy for the younger girl.
"Mhm! Thank you, Sister Lucy! And thank you, Brother Noah!" Yukino beamed, her face flushing with excitement. Wendy and Meredy smiled warmly beside her, happy for their friend.
Watching Lucy and Yukino celebrate, Loke and Capricorn exchanged a knowing glance, soft smiles gracing their faces.
"As expected of Lady Layla's daughter. It is abundantly clear that she is deeply loved by the Spirits, and she loves them just as fiercely in return. Lady Yukino is exactly the same," Capricorn whispered to Loke.
"In that case, you should join us! Lend your strength to Lucy!" Loke whispered back encouragingly.
"No... I cannot lend my strength to Lady Lucy. Because my strength has always belonged to her," Capricorn said, his voice thick with emotion. "Finally... I can return to my true master's side."
"By the way, what exactly happened with this Zoldeo guy? I remember hearing that he actively chose to return the key to Layla. How did things end up like this?" Noah asked, bringing the conversation back to the mystery at hand.
"Wait, is this 'Zoldeo' the guy trapped inside my angel?" Sorano interrupted, pointing at the mute, struggling angel on the dirt.
"Yes. That is Lord Zoldeo," Capricorn confirmed, nodding solemnly.
"Initially, Lord Zoldeo honored my pact with Lady Layla. When he learned that Lady Lucy had chosen the path of magic, he voluntarily relinquished my key to Layla. However, because his entire magical foundation was built upon Celestial Spirit Magic, losing my key caused his combat abilities to plummet. He needed to learn a new magic to compensate."
"I know about that part. Layla agreed to his request and allowed him to leave and study," Noah nodded, confirming the timeline.
"Tragically, during his travels to find a new magic, Lord Zoldeo strayed into the darkest depths of the magical abyss and touched upon a forbidden taboo. Consequently, he fused with my body and has been controlling my physical form in the Human World ever since," Capricorn finished his grim tale.
"Are you going to be okay?!" Lucy asked, deeply worried for her new spirit. Yukino also looked at him with profound concern.
"I will be fine. A short rest in the Celestial Spirit World is all I require to fully recover," Capricorn reassured them gently.
"That idiot saw Loke earlier and decided he wanted to trade up to a younger, more human-looking body. He tried to possess Loke, but I intercepted him with a weak angel summon. So now he's permanently fused with that angel," Sorano laughed mockingly, pointing at the struggling figure.
"Please don't bring that up again. I still have goosebumps just thinking about it," Loke shivered violently, rubbing his arms.
"Still, to think a human could literally fuse with another creature... Magic truly is terrifying sometimes," Cana muttered, shaking her head.
"He brought it upon himself. If he hadn't willingly dabbled in forbidden taboos, he wouldn't have suffered such a grotesque fate," Erza stated firmly, offering absolutely no sympathy.
"Exactly. Taboos are called taboos because the consequences of breaking them are catastrophic. To knowingly violate one and expect to walk away unscathed is the height of arrogance. He deserves whatever happens to him," Ultear agreed coldly, glaring down at the trapped Zoldeo.
"So, what do we do with him? Since he possessed the angel, it's now a self-sustaining entity; I don't need to supply it with magic anymore. However, it's currently occupying one of my active summon slots, which is incredibly annoying," Sorano complained, looking to Noah's projection for a solution.
"Leave him to me. I'll run some tests and figure out how to extract or neutralize him," Noah's projection said, kneeling beside the muted angel and immediately beginning his magical analysis.
Seeing Noah dive into his research, the others turned their attention back to the main battlefield.
Noticing that the vast majority of the Grimoire Heart grunts had already been knocked out, and the remaining few were barely holding on, the group finally relaxed completely. They sat down in the dirt, took out more recovery potions, and focused entirely on resting.
Naturally, most of their attention shifted to the apocalyptic duel raging between Noah and Precht.
It was a mesmerizing, terrifying spectacle. Countless legendary, ancient, and entirely unknown spells were being exchanged at blinding speeds. Brilliant, hyper-complex runic arrays flared into existence across the sky and the ground, detonating in a relentless, blinding cascade of raw destructive power. It was a masterclass in magical combat.
ZAAAP!
Laxus casually fired another bolt of lightning at Jellal.
Jellal's figure blurred, easily dodging the strike. He immediately retaliated with several weak energy blasts, which Laxus sidestepped without breaking a sweat.
As per usual, the missed lightning bolt and the stray energy blasts conveniently slammed into a squad of Grimoire Heart grunts behind them, instantly knocking them out.
Laxus fired another bolt, but his brow was heavily furrowed.
This bizarre, choreographed dance had been going on for quite some time now. They were constantly 'attacking' each other, but neither of them had landed a single hit. The only casualties were the Grimoire Heart grunts caught in the crossfire. Furthermore, Jellal was actively refusing to engage in a direct clash; whenever Laxus pushed forward, Jellal retreated just enough to maintain distance.
While Laxus was perfectly fine with the grunts getting wiped out, he couldn't understand Jellal's motives. Based on Jellal's speed and evasive maneuvers, the man was clearly highly skilled.
So why was he fighting like this? His behavior was less like an enemy commander and more like... an undercover spy actively sabotaging his own side.
The realization hit Laxus like a truck. He stared at Jellal in shock. Is he actually a spy?!
If Jellal was an undercover operative, his bizarre actions made perfect sense.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Laxus decided not to press the issue. Whether Jellal was a spy or not didn't really matter right now. As long as they maintained this facade, they were rapidly neutralizing the Grimoire Heart forces without expending much energy. It was a highly advantageous situation for Fairy Tail.
Laxus returned to the 'fight', firing another 'missed' lightning bolt that conveniently fried another dark mage.
Suddenly, Jellal stopped moving entirely. He glanced around the battlefield, and a faint, satisfied smile touched his lips.
Seeing this, Laxus also glanced around. He couldn't help but grin.
Jellal was the last remaining member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory still standing. Every other commander had been brutally defeated by his guildmates. The battle was overwhelmingly in Fairy Tail's favor.
Turning back to Jellal, Laxus noticed the blue-haired mage dropping into a low sprinter's stance. Jellal pressed his hand against the dirt, and a glowing golden magic circle flared beneath him.
Laxus immediately heightened his guard, arcs of lightning crackling aggressively across his muscular frame, ready for a high-speed clash.
"Meteor!"
Jellal exploded forward, his body transforming into a blinding streak of golden light.
Laxus tensed, preparing to intercept—but paused in confusion when he realized Jellal wasn't aiming for him at all.
Instead, the golden streak of light zigzagged erratically through the remnants of the Grimoire Heart army. Wherever the golden light passed, the dark mages violently collapsed to the ground, instantly knocked unconscious by high-speed strikes.
The Fairy Tail candidates, who had been actively fighting those grunts, froze in shock. They raised their guards as the golden blur approached, only to watch in bewilderment as the blur completely ignored them and systematically knocked out their opponents instead.
By the time Jellal finally skidded to a halt back in front of Laxus, not a single Grimoire Heart grunt remained standing. The entire battlefield had fallen eerily silent, save for the heavy panting of the Fairy Tail mages and the distant, thunderous explosions of Noah and Precht's duel.
"You're clearly very strong. But why did you just do that?" Laxus asked, crossing his arms and staring at Jellal.
While the Fairy Tail candidates could have easily finished off the remaining grunts in a few minutes, Jellal had wiped them all out in seconds. His strength was undeniable.
"Phew... Now the only one left is the Guild Master, Precht. Once he is defeated, Grimoire Heart will be completely annihilated," Jellal exhaled deeply, a genuine, relieved smile spreading across his face.
"Huh? Do you even hear yourself? Aren't you a member of Grimoire Heart? You're one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory. Your rank isn't exactly low," Laxus questioned, highly suspicious.
"I know exactly what I am saying. Grimoire Heart?" Jellal's face suddenly twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated hatred. His voice dropped to a venomous snarl. "I want them all dead. Especially Precht."
Laxus recoiled slightly, genuinely startled by the sheer intensity of the murderous rage radiating from the man.
Huff... huff...
Jellal took several deep breaths, forcefully reigning in his explosive emotions. He looked back at Laxus, his expression returning to its usual stoic calm.
"Noah knows my entire situation. You can ask him about it later."
"I will," Laxus nodded, deciding to drop the interrogation for now.
~~~
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