Jellal was filled with confusion.
He wanted to pry more information out of this princess who had suddenly turned mad, so after a moment of hesitation, he tested the waters.
"Who exactly are you? What are you trying to do in Fiore?"
"What am I trying to do~?"
The vicious face on the demon mask seemed to show a hint of conflicted thought.
Then, its expression twisted into a savage grin.
"Who cares! Heehee—A land of chaos is about to be born!"
"And doesn't that Ankhseram fellow love appearing in places like this?"
The exchange barely counted as a proper conversation.
Jellal tried hard to understand what this demon meant, but when he heard the name Ankhseram, his brows suddenly knitted together, and he fell into thought.
The god of life and death, Ankhseram.
Recently, while researching Zeref's history, Jellal had vaguely come across that name before.
According to legend, Ankhseram was the only god in the distant past who had actively interfered with humanity's choices and evolution.
To the wicked, He was a ruthless and brutal god of death, spreading death and terror.
To the good, He was a merciful and benevolent god, granting healing and blessings.
But what did that have to do with the current situation?
Jellal blinked.
In that instant, every hair on his body stood on end.
The demon who had originally been standing in front of him had appeared behind him at some point without him noticing!
The demon squatted on the ground, staring with great interest at Erik, whose eyes were unfocused and whose consciousness had faded, as though it were studying an ant.
At some point, the other members of Team Ram had also fallen into dazed, absent-minded states.
All of them stood frozen where they were.
"Get away from them!"
Jellal panicked and hurriedly cast Heavenly Body Magic.
Stars crashed toward the demon's back.
But the instant those starlights reached the demon's side, they burst apart, then spiraled drunkenly in every direction before falling.
"Ah~ So you don't know Ankhseram's identity. That makes sense. After all, a god's name can automatically block human memory…"
The demon pointed at Jellal from afar.
Jellal, who had just surged with powerful Magic Power, immediately lost focus.
The starlight around him scattered and vanished.
The demon scratched its head and looked over Team Ram, whom it had effortlessly taken down.
Its entire being radiated the air of someone who lived purely for amusement.
Then it suddenly split its mouth open and giggled.
"Looks like this can become even more fun…"
…
At Honey Bone Lodge, after questioning Arcadios about the Eclipse Gate, the members of Fairy Tail hid the Garou Knights and Arcadios in the inn's basement.
By the time the sky had begun to brighten faintly, Ankh started to realize something was wrong.
At this hour, under normal circumstances, Jellal's group should have been able to return.
'Were they trapped inside the palace?'
The more Ankh thought about it, the more tangled his thoughts became.
In the end, he simply threw on his clothes and planned to tell the Master and the others that he was heading to the palace to check.
It was the final day of the Grand Magic Games.
Not participating would definitely draw attention, but so be it. If their cover was exposed, then it was exposed. Rescuing people mattered more.
Just as he was about to leave, a loud knocking suddenly sounded at the door.
Ankh's heart leaped with joy.
Thinking Jellal and the others had returned, he quickly opened the door to greet them.
But the moment he opened it, a weak figure collapsed toward him.
"Ultear?"
Ankh looked at the falling Ultear in surprise, then quickly caught her and carried her into the room.
Makarov was also stunned when he saw Ankh return so quickly, but when he noticed Ultear's weakened magic, his expression immediately became serious.
And so, early in the morning, the entire Fairy Tail guild began bustling around again.
After Ankh used divine power to help Ultear regain consciousness, the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was everyone gathered around her bed.
"You're awake? What happened? Why is the Magic Power inside you such a mess?"
Ankh helped Ultear sit up and asked in concern.
Ultear's face was still pale.
There was still a trace of fear in her eyes, and only after a long while did she finally speak.
"We saw him. The masked person Lucy mentioned."
Future Lucy's fists clenched abruptly.
She asked nervously, "What about the others? What did he do to everyone?"
Ultear shook her head and gave a bitter smile.
"They've all been imprisoned. He only sent me out to deliver a message."
"No need to rush. Take your time," Mirajane said gently, pouring her a cup of warm water to soothe her wildly fluctuating emotions.
Ultear held the cup and began recalling what had happened the previous night.
According to the plan, Team Ram had smoothly treated the palace defenses like decoration and infiltrated the royal palace.
That group of nimble and experienced people even made their way to the great hall used for receiving important guests, where they overheard a conversation between the king, Princess Hisui, and another man who claimed to have come from the future.
Recalling their conversation, Ultear said, "From what they were saying, it felt like the man claiming to be from the future was begging the king and princess to believe him and open the Eclipse Gate."
"But the king and princess didn't seem to fully trust him. They said they would wait until the Grand Magic Games ended and see whether the results matched his predictions before making a decision."
That matched what Arcadios had told them.
Everyone gathered around the bed listened carefully.
Ultear hesitated for a moment, then said, "I think that man looked very much like Rogue from Sabertooth!"
"Who?"
Gajeel froze, then remembered that reckless brat who had challenged him without knowing his place.
"He came back from the future?" Ankh had not expected the future person's identity either. He pressed further.
"Was there anything different between him and the current Rogue?"
"He had scars on his face, one blind eye, half of his hair had turned white, and his Magic Power had grown stronger. Also… there was a powerful evil aura around him."
Ankh pictured that version of Rogue in his mind and felt that the image did fit someone from an apocalyptic future.
So this Rogue was very likely from a timeline that had already experienced the disaster…
"While they were talking, the princess and the king suddenly seemed to fall into an illusion. Princess Hisui moved like a puppet being controlled, picked up a demon mask from the desk, and put it on her face."
Ultear's expression darkened as she continued, "After putting on the mask, Princess Hisui became a completely different person. She ignored Future Rogue's ugly expression, discovered us instantly, and came straight at us!"
"After that, Princess Hisui chased us through the palace… No, she toyed with us."
"Her abilities were extremely strange. We kept going in circles inside the palace and couldn't escape no matter what we did. Sometimes we even saw our companions as enemies, and our minds gradually became less and less clear…"
Ultear raised her head and stared straight at Ankh.
"When I woke up, I only saw the masked Princess Hisui locking everyone else in prison. Then she told me to give you a message…"
"What did she say?"
Everyone, whose expressions had grown increasingly grave, could not help asking at the same time.
Ultear hesitated for a moment before saying.
"She said she missed you."
Ankh: ???