Knock, knock, knock!
"Lord Mages, breakfast is served. The village chief is waiting for you in the dining hall."
"Coming!"
Creak—
The door swung open, revealing a young, adorable girl standing in the doorway. It was hard to believe that just the night before, she had transformed into a terrifying, bloodthirsty demon.
The group followed her to the dining hall, where the village chief was already seated at the head of a long table.
"Good morning, Lord Mages! You all look a bit... sleep-deprived. Was it because you were surrounded by demons last night? I imagine it's hard to rest in a place like this," the chief said sympathetically.
Lucy waved her hands frantically. "No, no! It wasn't that at all!"
"Hahaha, there's no need to be modest. Even we get a fright when we catch a glimpse of our demon forms in the mirror. So, what are your plans for today? I can have the villagers assist you with whatever you need."
"We plan to investigate the island," Lucy explained, her expression turning serious. "Since this place was normal three years ago, something must have triggered the mutation. Whatever turned the moon purple must be hidden somewhere on this island. Chief, are there any suspicious locations we should know about?"
Kael Vane took a bite of his food, a flicker of approval in his eyes. So staying up all night wasn't a total waste, he thought. Even if they hadn't solved the curse, they were at least asking the right questions.
"Well... if you're looking for somewhere suspicious, there is one place... but..." The chief trailed off, looking hesitant.
Natsu and the others leaned in, their eyes shining. "There is?! Where?"
This was their lead. If they could find the source, they could complete the S-Class mission before Kael's deadline.
"The ruins on the mountain over there," the chief said, pointing toward a jagged peak in the distance. "Three years ago, a massive pillar of purple light would shoot into the sky from those ruins every single night."
"A purple pillar of light? That's incredibly suspicious!" Natsu shouted, slamming his fist into his palm.
"Didn't you go check it out?" Gray asked.
The chief sighed. "To be honest, we tried. Many times. We armed ourselves with whatever weapons we could find and set out, but we could never get close. We would walk toward the ruins, but before we realized it, we'd find ourselves standing right back at the village gates. It was like the mountain itself was rejecting us."
"A spatial barrier?" Lucy mused.
If the villagers were being redirected, it was almost certain that a powerful barrier spell was in place. Someone was hiding something in those ruins.
Once they had finished their meal, the group wasted no time heading toward the mountain.
"This is exactly what I expected from an S-Class mission! I'm getting fired up!" Natsu roared with excitement.
"Aye, sir!" Happy cheered.
Gray smirked, cracking his knuckles. "Barrier or not, I'll just freeze the whole thing and smash it to pieces."
Lucy, however, remained cautious. "We should stay on guard. If someone went to the trouble of setting up a barrier, they're definitely protecting something dangerous." She then glanced at Kael. "By the way, Kael... how did you know how to break the curse without even seeing the ruins?"
Kael shrugged casually. "A curse is just a magical construct. You don't always need to find the person who cast it to break the spell. Sometimes, you just need to know where to hit it."
"I guess that makes sense," Lucy muttered, though she still felt like he was hiding something.
Suddenly, a heavy rumbling echoed through the forest. The ground trembled, and birds took flight in a panic.
Shwaaa—!
A giant mouse, nearly ten meters tall, burst through the trees. To make the sight even more bizarre, the creature was wearing a frilly, oversized maid outfit.
"A mouse?!"
"It's freaking huge!"
The group stared in disbelief as the giant rodent puffed out its cheeks.
"It looks like it's about to spit something! Watch out!"
"Ice-Make: Shield!" Gray reacted instantly, conjuring a massive wall of ice in front of the group.
Pffffft—!!
A thick, yellowish gas erupted from the mouse's mouth, coating the shield and the surrounding trees.
"Ugh! What is that smell?!"
"It stinks! It stinks so bad!"
"Squeak-squeak-squeak!" The giant mouse let out a high-pitched, mocking laugh, clearly delighted with its own prank.
"My eyes! It burns!" Kael Vane covered his nose, feeling lightheaded. He had experienced a lot in two lifetimes, but he had never encountered a stench this strong and this concentrated. Beside him, Natsu—whose sense of smell was far more sensitive—had already collapsed, foam at his mouth.
"Natsu, get it together! Oh... wait, your nose..." Lucy gagged. "Never mind, just run!"
The group scrambled away, the giant mouse right on their heels.
"Happy! You're a cat!" Lucy yelled as they sprinted through the undergrowth. "Go catch the mouse!"
"Are you crazy?!" Happy cried, his wings fluttering frantically. "I only eat fish! And look at the size of that thing! It would eat me!"
"Kael!" Lucy turned to their S-Class leader. "Why are you running? Where's all that confidence from last night?"
"Without my Take Over, I'm not built for this!" Kael shouted back. "And I'm not getting that smell on my clothes!"
"Tch! Fine! Ice Floor!" Gray slammed his palms onto the ground. A layer of slick ice spread across the forest floor.
Boom!!
The giant mouse lost its footing. Its massive weight made it slide uncontrollably before slamming face-first into a tree.
"Nice job, Gray!"
"Now's our chance to run—"
"Now's our chance to beat it up!" Kael, Natsu (who had miraculously recovered at the promise of a fight), and Gray shouted in unison. The three of them swarmed the downed mouse, delivering a synchronized beating until the creature was thoroughly neutralized.
A short while later, they reached the clearing. "The ruins!"
The ancient, crumbling structure loomed over them. To their surprise, they walked right through the entrance without feeling any resistance.
Lucy looked around, puzzled. "Wait, didn't the chief say the villagers couldn't get in? Why was it so easy for us?"
"Maybe the barrier only affects people with low magic power," Gray suggested. "But man, this place is a wreck. Is the floor even safe?"
Natsu, being Natsu, decided to test it by stomping his foot with full force. "Seems solid to me!"
"Natsu, stop! This place is structurally unstable!" Kael warned. "If you break—"
Craaaack—!
The floor beneath them disintegrated into a cloud of dust and debris. The group let out a collective yell as they plummeted into the darkness below.
"You idiot!"
"Kael, you jinxed us!"
"How is this my fault?! I was telling him not to do it!"
"Happy! Help!"
"Aye!" Happy's wings snapped open.
In a desperate chain, Lucy grabbed Happy's paws, Kael grabbed Lucy's ankles, Gray grabbed Kael's legs, and Natsu hung onto Gray's boots. The poor blue cat's face turned a deep shade of purple as he tried to keep four humans airborne.
"Too... heavy..."
Thud! Thud! Thud!
One by one, they piled onto the hard ground at the bottom of the pit.
Natsu sat up first, rubbing his head. "Ow... is everyone okay?"
"You complete moron!" Gray snapped, shaking dust out of his hair. "Do you ever think before you act?"
"I'm fine," Lucy groaned, slowly pushing herself up.
As soon as she spoke, a muffled, pained voice drifted up from directly underneath her.
"I'm really... not... okay..."