Erza froze for a moment, then stepped back and studied the mountain again.
She quickly realized Ankh was right.
This peak looked completely different from the surrounding mountains.
Even through the thick layer of ice, its outline still resembled a great flame caught in mid-burn.
"To freeze a living flame without changing its shape…" Erza murmured. "The person who did this really is extraordinary."
Ankh nodded, then turned to her. "Tell Natsu and the others to stop messing around. It's time to work."
"We don't need to thaw the entire village. If we can free the Eternal Flame, its heat should be enough to—"
Ankh suddenly stopped speaking.
Erza frowned when she saw him staring at her in surprise. "What is it?"
She instinctively looked down.
Why did the ground suddenly seem so much closer?
No—that wasn't it!
Her armor had fallen away from her body.
Erza's eyes widened as realization struck. She hurried over to the frozen ground and looked at her reflection.
A familiar little red-haired girl stared back at her.
She looked strangely recognizable.
Because it was her.
Erza pinched her own cheeks in disbelief, then checked her chest.
It was still a little larger than Wendy's… Barely.
Then she lifted the only undershirt still hanging from her body.
Because she had shrunk, what had once been a close-fitting garment now hung down like a short dress.
Her underwear had slipped loose as well, and she hurriedly dropped the fabric again, her face burning red.
"What happened to me?!"
Panicking, Erza tried to walk forward, but her usual stride was far too long for her new legs. Her foot shot out across the ice, and she immediately lost her balance.
Ankh caught her before she could fall.
"The stride your body remembers no longer matches the one you can actually take," he said with an amused smile.
"Looks like you shouldn't move around on your own for now."
Erza remained trapped in shock, and her mood sank straight to the bottom.
She had turned into a child!
How was she supposed to live like this?
She might have to call Wendy her senpai! Natsu and Gray would laugh themselves sick.
Ankh would start treating her like a little girl again. And Elysia might go from being the eldest daughter to the seventh child in the family hierarchy…
The more Erza imagined it, the darker her future became.
"No. I need to find a way to change back immediately."
Ankh watched her slump for a moment before suddenly regaining her determination. Unable to resist, he rubbed her head.
"This isn't so bad. I get to raise Erza again from her cutest age."
Held beneath one arm with her feet dangling in the air, Erza puffed out her cheeks in embarrassment.
"I don't want that at all…"
After treating the miserable little Erza like a doll for a while, Ankh finally carried her down from the frozen Eternal Flame.
"The caster should still be somewhere in the village. Since the spell didn't affect me, it's probably a Curse used by a demon. Once we take him down, you should return to normal."
The light immediately returned to Erza's eyes, and she quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Just then, a woman with a voluptuous figure appeared near the village entrance, walking toward them with arrogant confidence.
"I never imagined I would see Titania reduced to such a pathetic state."
Erza recognized the familiar voice at once.
"Minerva!"
The woman's makeup had a beautiful but almost unsettling sharpness to it. The sinister air she had always possessed had grown even stronger.
A luxurious black fur coat hung over her shoulders, paired with thigh-high stockings and heeled boots.
On the left side of her exposed stomach, the crest of Succubus Eye had replaced the mark of Sabertooth.
Ankh held Erza against his side like a daughter and calmly looked at the dangerously alluring woman before him.
"So you really betrayed Sabertooth and joined a guild full of creatures that are barely human."
"I seek only the view from the summit," Minerva replied. "Light guild or dark guild, it makes no difference. Succubus Eye is merely another stepping stone beneath my feet."
Hatred flashed in her eyes.
"But before I climb any higher, I intend to settle my debt with you arrogant fairies!"
Ankh did not take her seriously in the slightest.
"You ruined your own life. What does that have to do with our guild?"
The anger in Minerva's eyes burned hotter.
She yanked down the front of her clothing, revealing a huge, hideous scar running between the pale skin of her chest.
"You shattered Sabertooth's title as the strongest guild, and that slash destroyed me! Don't tell me you've forgotten!"
Ankh stared at her, unimpressed.
"You tried to kill one of my companions, and now you're blaming me for hitting back too hard?"
"Besides, you already know I can cut you down. Why would you appear in front of me again?"
Minerva gave a cold laugh.
"I may not be able to defeat you, but my partner may already have slaughtered every one of your companions after turning them into helpless children."
"And more importantly…"
Violent Magic Power surged through her body and gathered around her palm.
Her spatial magic, Territory, activated as she drove her hand toward Ankh's chest.
"I have grown far stronger since joining a dark guild!"
...
While Minerva began her battle with Ankh, Natsu's group encountered an entirely different enemy.
The three members of Sylph Labyrinth could not use magic, but they had won first place in the Grand Treasure Games.
Their combat skills were considered some of the best in the treasure-hunting profession.
They had originally planned to use Moon Drip, a substance capable of dissolving magic, to melt the ice and steal the Eternal Flame.
Unfortunately for them, Happy snatched it away and accidentally spilled it.
That was when the three treasure hunters completely lost their tempers.
One wielded a sword, another a hammer, while the third used a sniper rifle and shamelessly fired from a distance, repeatedly targeting Lucy and Wendy.
However, Flare, formerly of Raven Tail, had somehow appeared in the village and joined Lucy and Wendy in fighting them.
Only after asking did they learn that Flare had been adopted and raised by the giants of Sun Village.
Which, in hindsight, explained how Ivan had managed to lure her away so easily.
The three women soon gained the upper hand.
Natsu and Gray, however, were having a much worse time against a huge man who had suddenly appeared.
The fire-and-ice brothers were now both small children, clutching trousers that no longer fit as they glared furiously at the ugly brute before them.
The towering man looked down at the two little boys and laughed mockingly.
"No matter how powerful a mage becomes, as a child, he is nothing more than prey. That is the true power of my Curse—the Law of Retrogression!"
"You're just a coward who has to turn his opponents into children before he dares fight them!" Gray shouted with remarkable elegance.
He pressed his hands together to cast Ice-Make…
Only for a tiny ice hammer to form and bonk harmlessly against the man's head.
Natsu gagged and strained for several seconds, but all he managed to cough up was a handful of sparks.
The large man slowly pulled down the cloth covering his mouth, revealing rows of sharp fangs.
He grinned viciously.
"Humans were always meant to be food for demons."