During the long and agonizing wait, time quietly slipped away until nightfall.
A massive pillar of light from the magical array poured out from the temple ruins, striking the top of Deliora's head. The ice that never melted showed faint signs of dissolving.
Following the light, Natsu and the others ran all the way to the top floor of the ruins, where they encountered Lyon and his subordinates performing a mysterious ritual.
From Lyon's mouth, Gray learned the entire Moon Drip plan. Furious, he clashed with Lyon in an exceptionally intense Ice-Make Magic battle.
In the chaos of the fight, Natsu was accidentally frozen by Lyon's ice and temporarily taken out of commission.
Hearing that Lyon intended to harm the innocent villagers, Lucy, with Happy's assistance through his Flight Magic, rushed back to the village ahead of the others.
The village, bathed in purple moonlight.
"I see... using the Moon Drip plan to revive the demon Deliora. I never expected Gray to have a senior disciple with such dangerous ideas..."
After listening to Lucy's account, Chase rested his chin on one hand, wearing an expression of genuine surprise.
"I don't care about plans or whatever—the moon! Our request is to destroy the moon!"
Transformed back into a demon by the purple moonlight, the village chief grew increasingly agitated, urging them to hurry up and destroy the moon. He had completely lost the gentle calm he possessed in his human form.
Two burly villagers, apologetic smiles on their faces, pulled the increasingly frantic chief away.
"Powerful mages are going to attack the village. What should we do?"
"Are we going to die before our curse is even lifted...?"
The other villagers stood frozen with worry, not knowing what to do.
"You don't need to worry! With me and Chase here, we definitely won't let any harm come to you!"
Lucy clenched her fist confidently, then calmly picked up her tea and took a small sip.
If Natsu and Gray were both struggling in battle, and she were here alone, she'd definitely be panicking right now.
But with an S-Class mage like Chase here, even if three mages showed up—hell, even thirty—they'd be no match!
Having personally witnessed Chase's "sparring match" with Erza, she was absolutely certain of this.
"Lucy, you sure know how to pat yourself on the back," Happy added a vicious jab.
After all the commotion at the temple ruins, his aching muscles and sore back had improved quite a bit.
"Shut up, you stupid cat!"
At an angle the villagers couldn't see, Lucy shot Happy a death glare.
"That's right, you can rest easy. I'm too weak to be of much help, but Lucy here is an incredibly powerful mage!"
Chase's words made Lucy spit out the tea she'd just drunk.
This time, however, Happy was the unfortunate victim.
Seeing Lucy's wide-eyed, incredulous expression, Chase slumped onto a stool, drooped his head, and started fiddling with the hem of his shirt.
"Because I wanted to try... to see if I could complete a request on my own strength."
He mimicked Lucy's tone mischievously, muttering under his breath, "On the way to Galuna Island, I kept thinking about it..."
The painfully familiar words made Lucy's face flush bright red, a massive "well" -shaped vein bulging on her forehead.
She had indeed said those words herself, and she did feel ashamed of her earlier smugness, but...
What was with this inexplicable urge to beat Chase to a pulp right here and now?!
"I get it! Even if I'm all alone, I can definitely do this!"
Lucy patted her burning cheeks, pumped herself up, then walked with unbearably heavy steps toward the villagers, who were eyeing her with obvious skepticism.
After a burst of brainstorming, the rookie mage immediately came up with a plan.
"Open! Gate of the Virgin, Virgo!"
A golden magic circle flickered, and with a "wa-oh" of ambiguous sound effects, Virgo appeared in her maid outfit.
"Princess, please punish me severely." Virgo's words were as starting as ever.
"Who would summon you just to do something like that?!"
Lucy snapped, then pointed toward the empty space near the village's only entrance. "Virgo, dig a hole for me right there."
Her plan was simple: prepare a trap in advance. If those three mages dared to come, they'd be caught red-handed!
Though Virgo was a bit of a masochist, her abilities were excellent. In the blink of an eye, she'd dug a vertical pit several meters deep right at the entrance.
The watching villagers murmured in amazement.
"Princess, please scold me." Having completed her task, Virgo spoke with utmost seriousness.
"...I'd rather praise you."
Not wanting to linger with Virgo, Lucy sent her back to the Celestial Spirit World and turned to explain her perfect plan to the villagers.
Staring at the trap—a few dry branches carelessly thrown over a hole that stuck out like a sore thumb—the villagers all fell into deep contemplation.
"I think anyone with half a brain wouldn't fall for that."
"Yeah... I kind of agree."
"I'm suddenly
feeling like regular guild mages aren't all that impressive..."
"Aye~ After seeing Chase's Trap Cards, Lucy's trap feels like child's play."
From the crowd, Happy joined the teasing, pointing a claw at the crude hole on the ground.
The chorus of murmurs and the "backstab" from her companion nearly pushed Lucy into full-on emo mode.
Fortunately, Dark Magician Girl, standing behind Chase, stepped forward, her eyes sparkling with encouragement. "Lucy, keep going! This trap is perfect—it's definitely going to work!"
Chase's mouth twitched as he glanced at Dark Magician Girl, who didn't look like she was joking at all.
Leave it to the same airhead who managed to step in cow dung on her very first appearance. When it came to being a natural dung, she and Lucy were two peas in a pod...
"Hey! Someone's coming!"
A villager's shout from the wall instantly silenced the noisy atmosphere.
The spiked log gate slowly rose. Peering down the dim path, they saw Natsu, still trapped in the ice ball Lyon had frozen him in, carrying a badly injured Gray as he ran toward the village.
"Natsu?! Gray?!"
Lucy startled. Before she could shout a warning, a dull "thump" echoed in her ears.
Sure enough, Natsu successfully stepped on the dry branches and plummeted straight into the hole.
"There really ARE idiots who fall for that!"
"He's the cherry-haired kid who's with them, right?"
"Yep! I'm now even more convinced this guild is totally unreliable!"
The villagers' speechless exasperation was deafening. Lucy hung her head, unable to face anyone.
The trap operation was a spectacular failure...
"Damn it! Who the hell was bored enough to dig a hole right in the entrance?!"
Still carrying Gray, Natsu scrambled indignantly out of the hole, using the walls for leverage.
By sheer accident, the ice ball Lyon had trapped him in shattered completely, restoring his freedom.
Realizing this, Natsu's face twisted with annoyance. He started ranting about going back to punch that ice bastard's lights out.
"Wait, Natsu. How did Gray get this badly injured?"
Snapping out of her operational failure-induced melancholy, Lucy hurried over to check Gray's wounds.
Happy followed close behind.
"Damn it! I'm not letting that jerk get away with this!"
Natsu clenched his fist, blazing with fire.
Just as he was about to charge back to the Moon Temple, his sensitive nose twitched slightly, as if catching a familiar scent.
He jerked his head up to look.
In the distant sky, a strangely shaped giant rat, spinning its tail for propulsion, was flying rapidly toward the village!