"Hahahaha! I knew it! I knew this would happen!"
Only one person was laughing.
Hades had never imagined events would end this way.
The arrogant Marco, who had treated resurrection as though it were simple, was about to die from the Curse of Ankhseram!
It was the curse that had defeated all of Hades's research and tormented Zeref for centuries.
And Marco had walked straight into it.
"Why are you laughing?"
Marco stood in the middle of the death energy without so much as a scratch, staring at Hades as though he had lost his mind.
The laughter died in Hades's throat.
"Wh-what? How are you still alive?!"
His expression stiffened in disbelief, looking almost exactly as it had when he learned that Marco had killed Acnologia.
"You thought this pathetic curse could kill me? a Seventh Sense Gold Saint?"
Marco scoffed.
The death energy had struck him directly and failed to even damage his skin.
A Saint's Cosmo was not decorative, and neither was the body required to wield it.
Gold Saints possessed bodies capable of traveling through the universe at the speed of light.
The curse was not nearly as unstoppable as Hades believed.
After feeling its power firsthand, Marco estimated that it would fail against many of the stronger dragons as well.
It certainly could not kill someone on Igneel's level, and Acnologia would barely notice it.
"That's impossible..."
Hades could only stare.
"You're all right!" Mavis cried, her fear giving way to relieved tears. "Marco, you're really all right!"
For one terrible moment, she had believed she had killed someone close to her again.
If returning to life meant bringing death to everyone she cared about, she would rather have remained a ghost.
At least as a spirit, she had been free to stay near others without hurting them.
"Thank goodness..."
Makarov released the breath caught in his chest.
Marco was alive.
If his grandson had suddenly died here, Makarov did not know how he could have kept going.
"So the Curse of Ankhseram came back after all." Marco frowned. "Mavis, stay still. I'm going to examine your body again and see what changed."
Still wearing the Ophiuchus Gold Cloth, he placed the Rod of Asclepius against her body and began inspecting the life he had restored.
Mavis was extraordinarily powerful now.
During the resurrection, Marco had fully integrated Fairy Heart into her body. She could draw upon its endless supply of magic whenever she wished.
That made her a terrifying weapon in her own right.
She possessed infinite magic, knew Fairy Tail's three Grand Spells, and remained immortal and ageless beneath the Curse of Ankhseram.
It was an absurd combination.
For the moment, Mavis would be safe as long as she avoided touching anyone. The greater concern was what might happen after years beneath the curse.
She could eventually become like Zeref, releasing death energy indiscriminately and killing every living thing nearby.
That could not be allowed.
"So it only activates when the body and soul are together?"
Marco found the mechanism fascinating.
The curse did nothing while Mavis's soul existed alone. It did nothing while her empty body remained sealed.
The moment the two reunited, however, it became active again.
"Stop wasting your time," Hades said after recovering from the shock of Marco's survival. "I studied that curse for decades and never understood it. What makes you think you can solve it?"
He refused to believe Marco could break the Curse of Ankhseram.
Neither he nor Zeref had ever managed it, and both were among the greatest magical geniuses in history.
Zeref's talent required no explanation.
Hades himself had created Fairy Heart and his own artificial Devil's Heart, achieving things beyond even what his teacher had once imagined.
If the two of them could not understand or remove the curse, how could Marco possibly do it?
"Oh? Is that so?"
Marco smiled.
He did not understand the magical theory behind the Curse of Ankhseram.
He was not a dedicated magical researcher, and the curse clearly involved concepts far beyond ordinary magic.
But understanding something was not always necessary to destroy it.
"I found it."
Deep within Mavis, Marco had located the curse—a mass of death energy that had reformed when her body and soul reunited.
Part of it was engraved into her flesh, while the rest was attached to her soul.
Neither half could activate alone, but when they joined together, the curse became complete.
That explained why it only affected the living.
If Mavis died and her soul entered the Underworld, the curse would stop.
If she later reincarnated into a new body, she would likely be free from it because the new body would carry no curse.
Returning to her original body, however, reunited both halves and brought the curse back.
"Interesting."
Marco sent his Cosmo into Mavis's body.
This time, he used its healing aspect.
After unlocking Ophiuchus, Marco's Cosmo had gained extraordinary restorative power.
It could carry the Accumulated Corpse Qi of Cancer or the life-giving power of Ophiuchus depending on what he needed.
Boom!
The moment his Cosmo entered Mavis, it surged toward the ominous mass of death energy.
The healing power of Ophiuchus could restore every wounded Saint throughout Sanctuary and return them all to perfect condition.
Ophiuchus possessed a Cosmo devoted entirely to healing life, without a single offensive technique.
When it came to healing, even the laws of gods could be bent and broken.
Boom!
The life-filled Cosmo crashed into the Curse of Ankhseram.
The mass of death energy shattered.
The marks carved into Mavis's body and soul broke apart with it, then were neutralized and absorbed by Marco's Cosmo until nothing remained.
"Hah! That was nothing."
Marco withdrew the Rod of Asclepius with a satisfied smile.
The Curse of Ankhseram was certainly vicious, and its killing power was terrifying against ordinary humans.
But much of its reputation came from targeting people with little resistance to death magic.
Against beings with the natural defenses of powerful dragons, it was far less impressive.
Otherwise, Zeref would never have been helpless against Acnologia.
Buzz, buzz, buzz!
The instant Marco destroyed the curse, a massive wave of magic descended upon him and Mavis.
The energy felt familiar.
"Looks like someone didn't appreciate that."
Marco struck the Rod of Asclepius against the floor.
A pinkish-purple Cosmo burst outward.
Rather than protecting only himself and Mavis, it spread across the entire Fairy Tail guildhall.
Buzz!
Light flashed in Marco's eyes.
He immediately traced the death energy back to its source.
The spatial disturbance was so faint that no ordinary mage could have noticed it, yet before Ophiuchus's extraordinary command of space, it might as well have been a beacon.
The spatial talent of Ophiuchus surpassed that of every other Gold Saint of the Zodiac.
It could enter the Underworld, a realm even gods could not freely reach.
It could ignore spatial turbulence and use dimensional abilities even in places where space-time had become too distorted for normal teleportation.
"You're not getting away!"
Marco tore open space and locked onto the hidden dimension.
Buzz!
Golden light flashed, and Marco vanished.
He crossed the dimensional boundary and entered the realm from which the death energy had come.
Boom!
The moment he arrived, a terrifying tide of death crashed toward him.
Marco moved the Rod of Asclepius, releasing a barrier of pinkish-purple Cosmo.
The wave of death struck it and split around him, leaving Marco standing calmly at the center of the storm.
"So this is a hidden space attached to the Underworld?"
He still had enough attention to study his surroundings and analyze the nature of the dimension.
The spatial abilities of Ophiuchus were powerful enough to create private dimensions completely separate from ordinary reality.
The Ophiuchus Temple itself existed within a hidden layer behind Sanctuary and was far larger than any of the other twelve Zodiac Temples.
If Marco wished, he could create a private world of his own attached to Earth-land.
The dimension he stood within now had been created in much the same way.
It was attached to the Underworld and saturated with death energy.
"You're still hiding?" Marco called out. "I've already entered your little world. Do you honestly think I can't find you?"
His Cosmo expanded and forced the raging death energy backward.
Marco's gaze settled on the only other figure within the entire dimension.
Ankhseram.
The legendary god who governed life and death.
According to myth, any attempt to investigate, reverse, or violate the laws of life and death would provoke Ankhseram's wrath.
The offender would then receive divine punishment in the form of the Curse of Ankhseram.
"You... have violated the law of a god."
A voice echoed through the lightless realm, carrying bottomless anger.
"The law of a god?"
Marco laughed.
He had broken into the god's own domain, yet Ankhseram was still talking down to him as though the title alone should inspire obedience.
Had this god forgotten what Saints were best known for?
Killing gods.
"If you hate people reversing life and death so much, why not simply kill them?" Marco asked.
"Wouldn't that be more direct than cursing them and forcing them to suffer for centuries?"
He had always wanted an answer to that question.
What purpose did the Curse of Ankhseram actually serve?
Against a truly evil person, it was barely a punishment.
It granted ageless immortality and turned affection into a weapon capable of killing everyone nearby.
How was that supposed to discourage anyone?
The curse only truly tortured people who still cared about others.
"And what did Mavis even do to deserve it?" Marco continued. "She used Black Magic, but she never tried to overturn life and death. So what exactly are your standards?"
His Cosmo burned brighter as he stared into the darkness.
"Or do you think calling something divine law gives you the right to do whatever you want?"