"Natsu! The Lullaby incident isn't important — something absolutely terrible is about to happen to me!" Gray suddenly interrupted Natsu.
Thinking of that terrifying figure, cold sweat streamed down his face.
Even Natsu immediately sat up straight. Just thinking about that person made certain parts of his body ache faintly.
Even though he was much stronger than before, the body's memory never fades. That person's punches really hurt.
The current Natsu was no longer the same as before — he had an extremely strong aversion to pain.
Lucy trembled and hurriedly asked, "What happened?"
Even someone like Natsu, who feared neither heaven nor earth, had become unusually serious because of what Gray mentioned.
It must be something extremely, extremely terrifying.
"Erza is coming back," Gray said in a heavy voice.
Happy suddenly looked at Lucy with a gloomy expression.
"Lucy will definitely suffer worse than me. If Erza finds out Natsu was 'broken' because of Lucy…"
"Lucy's fate…"
"Waa!! I don't even dare imagine it!"
Lucy clutched her head and shouted, "I already told you, Natsu wasn't broken by me!"
"What nonsense! If you weren't the one who broke Natsu, why would I imagine such evil scenes?!"
"Why am I even complaining about this?!"
"Just who is Erza anyway?!"
"Lucy's thoughts aren't healthy at all!" Natsu and Happy said at the same time, their speech slurred.
"Stop talking like that!" Lucy shouted at the man and the cat.
"What's coming can't be avoided. We have to face Erza eventually!" Natsu declared with a heroic expression as he stood up.
"Sigh… Looks like I won't escape this disaster either," Gray said, his face extremely serious.
In Lucy's mind immediately appeared the image of a gigantic monster named Erza stepping on Natsu and Gray and trampling them into the ground.
"Just who is Erza?!"
"Not knowing is the most terrifying thing!"
Magnolia.
Today, the Fairy Tail guild was unusually quiet. It was rare that no fights had broken out among the guild members.
Everyone was getting along harmoniously, as if they had all changed their personalities.
Except for Natsu, who lay weakly on the table, everyone else seemed especially energetic.
Even Nab, who usually wandered around the guild's request board every day without ever accepting a job, was seriously analyzing the missions.
The normally noisy Fairy Tail guild was particularly quiet and peaceful today.
To Lucy, however, everything felt like the calm before a storm.
The quieter things were now, the more terrifying what was about to happen would be.
She shouted at the top of her lungs, "Can someone tell me what Erza is really like?!"
After spending so much time in Fairy Tail, Lucy already understood the guild's atmosphere. A day without a few fights simply wasn't normal for Fairy Tail.
If it was this quiet, there could only be one reason.
Erza was coming back.
Mirajane walked over to Lucy with a glass of juice. "Don't be fooled by appearances. Erza is actually easy to get along with."
Lucy trembled as she took the juice. "Everyone in the guild is terrified like this. She doesn't seem easy to get along with at all."
Mirajane smiled gently. "Oh my, don't worry about it. Everyone's just afraid because Erza disciplined them too harshly before. It's nothing."
Lucy shuddered in fear, spilling the juice she had just taken.
She looked around at everyone in the guild, imagining a terrifying figure brutally disciplining every single person present.
"Everyone in the guild has been disciplined by Erza?!"
Sneaking a glance at Natsu, Lucy trembled even more.
The reason Natsu had become like this was something everyone had already decided — and if Erza found out everything was caused by her…
"Ahh!!!"
"I'm so scared!!"
On the streets of Magnolia, a woman wearing shining silver armor slowly appeared, holding an enormous object in one hand.
Seeing her, pedestrians froze in place, silently watching as she walked toward Fairy Tail.
Clang!
A sudden metallic sound echoed in the hearts of everyone in the Fairy Tail guild.
Everyone's heartbeat grew heavier with that sound.
Clang!
Hearing the sound, Natsu tried to muster his spirit, but he was too hungry to even sit up.
Lucy crouched beneath the table, trembling all over, yet unable to suppress her curiosity about what kind of person Erza was.
A massive shadow appeared at the doorway, blocking the sunlight streaming in from outside.
It looked eerie and terrifying.
Lucy swallowed hard, her heart shaking with fear.
"That's not a shape a human should have!"
As Erza stepped inside, Lucy finally saw her clearly.
Beautiful crimson hair flowed down her back. In one hand she held an enormous horn from a gigantic monster, several times larger than her own body.
Bang!
The moment the monster's horn was set down, the ground trembled three times.
Lucy let out a breath of relief and murmured softly:
"Not a monster…"