"I want to work with you—and not just by trading this intel for my freedom," Ultear said.
Snow began to fall again. She rose to her feet, words concise.
Shane raised an eyebrow, genuinely intrigued. "All right. How do you want to cooperate?"
"From time to time, I'll pass information to you from my side," she replied, voice steady. The trace of vulnerability in her face—stirred by memory—faded under the cold night air, and the confident woman he'd first encountered returned.
"In return, you let me go—and to some extent, you help me accomplish my goal."
He had to admit, the offer was very tempting. "Zeref is still alive" alone was priceless.
If they could maintain a link, the advantages were obvious.
He was interested.
But if it was going to be a partnership, the balance of power had to be laid out clearly upfront.
"Fine," Shane nodded. "If your requests are reasonable, I can help with some things. But there are three conditions."
He held up his index finger. "First: during our cooperation, you contact me once every month. If you vanish, I'll consider it your unilateral withdrawal."
Then his middle finger. "Second: if the Eyes of Karma show me your burden of sin passes what I can tolerate, I'll clean it up myself."
His gaze stayed calm, but the weight behind his words was real. "I'd like you to think carefully before doing anything—whether it's worth making me your enemy."
Finally, he lifted his ring finger. "Third, and most important: cooperation requires parity. Is the power behind you on a level that can stand against Fairy Tail?"
As the last words fell, a furnace-like heat spread from him, warping the air, radiating invisible force.
Feeling that crushing pressure, Ultear snorted softly, but didn't flinch. A hint of pride crept into her voice. "Consider this a bonus tip, then. The… guild I belong to has two monsters. One is… manageable. But the man who taught me Arc of Time is someone you absolutely can't defeat right now."
"Not even the master, a Wizard Saint?" Shane asked, her certainty forcing the question out of him.
Ultear just smiled faintly and said nothing.
Shane fell quiet, weighing that.
After a few breaths, he let the pressure recede and extended his right hand. "In that case… let's work well together."
She lowered her eyes, clearly reluctant. She glanced at his outstretched hand—long-fingered and strong—hesitated, then grudgingly clasped it.
The feel was exactly what she'd imagined.
Warm, steady, solid, with some quiet, stable strength in it. Exactly the kind of temperature she hated. Not cold enough, not searing enough. Lukewarm to the point of discomfort.
"You hate cold and hot—you're a pain to accommodate," Shane muttered, noting her obvious distaste.
At the same time, he snapped his fingers.
The dark shackle on her ankle shattered into glowing dust and vanished into the night.
"You—" A flicker of surprise crossed her eyes. She'd assumed he would at least leave some leash.
"Once we've agreed to cooperate, there should at least be basic trust," he said. "What you do next is your choice. Just don't forget my conditions."
He yawned and swung back in through the window.
Back in bed, his body felt bone tired—but his mind was oddly charged.
Zeref is alive…
The most notorious of black mages, a living legend out of myth and history—where in the world was he now? What was he doing?
Shane couldn't help picturing the "most evil and strongest" mage in his mind, and what surged up wasn't fear.
It was a fierce, barely contained curiosity.
He'd been fascinated from the moment he learned the truth.
"If he really has lived for four hundred years… he's basically a walking history book," Shane murmured at the ceiling. "I really want to see him with my own eyes."
That desire dropped into his consciousness like a stone into a still lake, sending ripples out.
The Book of Heroic Spirits, long still, suddenly trembled. Its pages turned by themselves with a rustling sound.
[Trial: Pursue the Shadow in the Abyss]
[If you wish to become a Heroic Spirit, why not behold legend with your own eyes? Witness the existence of the "Living Legend" — the black mage Zeref.]
Shane jolted fully awake. Sleep vanished.
A trial—his first in a long while.
It completely confirmed his guess: trials were triggered by the holder's strongest inner desire.
"All right, then the next goal is clear," he thought, eyes shining. "First pass the guild's S-Class exam—and use that time to gather everything I can on Zeref.
"And beyond that… I can lean on Ultear's network."
He lay there, holding up his hand and watching his fingers blur in the dim room, feeling an old excitement stir in his chest.
The next morning, cooled down again, Shane walked into the dining area and saw Ultear sitting calmly at the table, sipping thin rice porridge.
His first words were, "Why are you still here?"
He'd already cut her loose last night.
He hadn't expected to see her still here in the morning—much less sitting at his table like she belonged there.
And his house was flat broke. This meager breakfast was only on the table because Erza had woken early to cook it. They could barely afford two mouths, let alone a third.
Ultear ate with elegant posture, but that wasn't a pose. She hadn't eaten at all since being captured; she was starving.
"I want to observe things here for a while longer," she said, raising her eyes, voice calm. "If you don't trust me, you can put the shackle back on."
Her face didn't show a trace of the humiliation she'd had before—she spoke of the shackle like it were someone else's business.
Shane considered it. She had a point.
If Fairy Tail really did have secrets best kept from outsiders, letting her roam free might be trouble.
So he nodded, wearing a "you said it yourself" expression. "If you insist, fine."
Light flickered at his fingertip and the familiar dark shackle manifested at her feet.
"Put it on yourself when you're done eating."
Her composed face cracked at that; her fingers tightened on the spoon.
Any normal person wouldn't treat a brand-new key asset like this.
She forced the words out between her teeth. "Fine. I get it."
Across from them, Erza sat at the center of the table in a home apron printed with cartoon characters.
She looked from Ultear's tight expression to Shane's matter-of-fact one, set down her spoon, and frowned slightly. "Is it just me, or does it feel like… the mood between you two has gotten better?"
~~~
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