A torrent of black energy erupted from the two Magic Circles, not as a straight blast, but twisting and scattering like a living creature, assailing Gray from all angles!
Gray gritted his teeth, desperately gathering his magic power amidst his dulled senses.
"Ice-Make: Rampart!"
A thick wall of ice rose from the ground, shielding him.
But the moment the black energy touched the ice wall, it began to melt, blacken, and disintegrate.
It wasn't being shattered, but "corroded"—the structure of the ice was being destroyed at a molecular level.
"How is that possible..." Gray's pupils contracted.
Just then—
'Gray! Duck!'
Ace's voice exploded in Gray's mind like a clap of thunder.
It wasn't a sound transmitted through the air, but a mental message mixed with his Digital Soul that acted directly on his consciousness.
Gray obeyed instinctively, throwing himself flat on the ground.
The next second, a dark golden light streaked over his head and precisely collided with the torrent of black energy.
Simon's expression changed.
He immediately withdrew his magic and floated backward, melting back into the darkness.
Ace was slowly lowering his right hand.
A dark golden halo still lingered in his palm. With that last strike, he had not only blocked Simon's attack but had also devoured a portion of the dark magic with his Authority of Gluttony, which he was now rapidly analyzing and digesting within his body.
"Are you okay?" Ace asked.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine..." Gray wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "That guy's magic... it's bizarre."
"Assassination magic, specializing in weakening and surprise attacks," Ace said, staring in the direction Simon had disappeared.
"He's practically invincible in the dark. Don't fight him alone."
Before he could finish, Erza's cry of surprise came from the direction of the dance floor:
"Sho...?"
Her voice was filled with an incredulous tremor.
Ace and Gray turned their heads at the same time.
A man stood before Erza, toying with a deck of cards in his hand with a look of innocent delight on his face.
"Nee-san~" the man called out sweetly.
Erza's steps came to an abrupt halt. Her face instantly turned pale, her lips trembling slightly.
"Sho...?" she repeated the name, her voice as soft as a whisper in a dream. "Is it really you...?"
"So Nee-san still remembers me~" Sho's smile grew wider, but it held none of the joy of a reunion, only something cold and mocking.
"That's great~ I think about you every day, Nee-san~"
With a flick of his finger, a card flew toward Erza.
Still lost in shock, Erza instinctively sidestepped, but the card suddenly split in mid-air, multiplying into dozens that surrounded her like butterflies!
"Requip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!"
Combat instincts finally overrode her shock.
Erza instantly requipped, silver armor covering her body as the wheel of swords on her back unfolded. But just as she was about to slash at the cards—
The cards all froze in mid-air and then simultaneously lit up with a blinding light!
"Nee-san, you'll protect us, right?"
Sho's voice echoed within the light.
It was no longer the clear voice of a boy, but a bizarre mix of an adult's hoarseness and a child's innocence that made one's skin crawl.
Erza's movements froze.
"Erza!" Ace's face darkened, and he was about to move forward—
"Don't be in such a hurry~" Sho flicked another card, this time toward Ace.
Ace didn't dodge or evade.
The dark golden Digital Soul in his palm formed a vortex, preparing to devour the card directly.
But before the card could touch the vortex, it made a sharp turn and flew toward Lucy behind him.
Lucy was just running out of the fortune-telling booth.
Her face changed when she saw this, and she hurriedly took out her key.
"Open, Gate of the—Ah!"
A rope flew from an unknown direction, instantly tying her up like a dumpling.
The knotting technique was extremely professional, immobilizing her without causing injury, clearly the work of an expert.
"Meow~ Caught a little kitty~"
A female voice came from the shadows, and a cat-like woman walked out from behind a pillar—Millianna.
"Lucy!" Levy rushed out of the fortune-telling booth, stunned by the scene.
"Here comes another one~" Sho said with a smile, flicking another card.
But this time, the card was struck mid-flight by a high-pressure jet of water, knocking it off course.
Juvia stood at the edge of the dance floor, her hands held in a casting posture and a faint blue mist swirling around her.
"D-Don't you dare hurt them..."
"Oh?" Sho raised an eyebrow, sizing up Juvia with interest. "Another water user~ But how much can your water block?"
With a wave of his hands, dozens of cards flew out simultaneously, shooting from all angles toward Juvia, Levy, and the trapped Lucy.
"This ends now."
Ace's voice rang out, calm but carrying a bone-chilling coldness.
He didn't even look at the incoming cards.
He simply raised his right hand and made a grasping motion in Sho's direction.
"Gluttony—Devour."
An invisible suction force erupted.
The cards flying through the air suddenly froze, then began to tremble violently as if seized by an unseen hand!
The magic imbued in them began to drain uncontrollably, turning into streams of faint purple light that flowed into Ace's palm.
Sho's smile finally vanished completely, replaced by shock and... a trace of fear.
"How is that possible... My 'Magic Cards' are directly linked to magic power. How can they be drained by an external force..."
"Your magic is interesting," Ace said, looking at him, a dark purple light flashing in his eyes. "But in front of me, it's not good enough."
The dozens of blades on Erza's sword wheel were all pointed at Sho, but her hands were trembling slightly.
"Sho... why..." Her voice was hoarse. "Why... are you all here... Why are you doing this..."
Sho took a step back, the mocking expression on his face gone, replaced by a complex look mixed with resentment, sorrow, and a kind of twisted obsession.
"Why?" he repeated the word, then suddenly laughed, a harsh and grating sound.
"Nee-san, you're asking why?"
He pointed a trembling finger at Erza.
"You were the one who said it back then! You said you would protect us! You would get us out of that hell! But what happened? You left! You left all by yourself! You left us behind! You left us to continue suffering in that hell!"
"I didn't—" Erza tried to explain, but Sho cut her off.
"Shut up!" he shrieked, black tears welling in his eyes, emanating an ominous magical fluctuation.
"Do you have any idea what we went through? Do you know what I—!"
"And today, our mission... is to take you with us, Nee-san."
At that moment, all the lights in the amusement park flickered simultaneously and then went out completely.
It wasn't a power outage—it was Wally's cube domain and Simon's Dark Moment overlapping, combined with Sho's card magic to form a triple blockade.
Absolute darkness descended.
Only a few spots still had faint light sources—the black glow on the surface of the cube cage trapping Natsu, the ghostly light from the dark magic around Simon, the dark golden Digital Soul in Ace's palm, and the faint blue light from the water sphere Juvia had condensed in her hands.
In the darkness, Sho's cold voice echoed.
"Erza-nee, please come with us quietly."
"Otherwise..."
In the darkness, the sound of Wally's gunshots rang out, the faint whisper of wind as Simon moved through the shadows, the swishing sound of Millianna's swinging rope, and...
More malice surrounding them from all directions.
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