Natsu punched several dark mages, sending them reeling into the dirt.
"What's wrong, come on! Is there no one else?!" he roared, his fists still smoking. "You attacked our guild's sacred ground—my anger isn't so easily quelled! Let me land a few more punches on you!"
"In that case, I'll burn you to ashes!" a mage yelled, suddenly appearing behind Natsu.
"Flame Sniper!"
"Hehe! I've been waiting for this!" Natsu grinned, not even bothering to dodge or evade the incoming blast of fire.
"Success!" the mage cheered as the flames engulfed the boy. "Serves you right!"
The surrounding Grimoire Heart mages cheered and raised their arms in triumph.
"Hmph! My Flame Sniper can even melt solid rocks. No matter what kind of fire mage he is, he can't easily survive that," the mage boasted smugly, turning his back to the raging flames.
But soon, the roar of the fire began to slowly diminish.
Natsu's figure emerged completely unscathed from the inferno, and at this moment, he was inhaling the flames in large, greedy gulps, looking thoroughly energized.
"What's with this guy?!"
"He actually ate the fire!"
"Could he be the legendary..."
"Eating it always gives me a surge of power." Natsu wiped the corner of his mouth with his thumb and grinned fiercely, his aura exploding.
"A... a Dragon Slayer Mage... the Salamander... Natsu Dragneel!" the grunts panicked.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" Searing flames coiled tightly around Natsu's arms as he swung them violently left and right, forming a massive circular ring of fire that instantly knocked down dozens of mages in a single sweep.
"This guy is terrifying! What do we do now?!"
"Our magic is completely useless against this monster!"
As elite members of Grimoire Heart, they had their own dark pride, but they never expected to be so easily and brutally defeated by just one teenager.
"Huh? Who are you calling a monster?!" Natsu narrowed his eyes, his tone clearly displeased.
"Enough! I said enough! Hahaha!" A sinister, grating laugh suddenly echoed from the trees above them.
"It's Lord Zancrow!" the grunts gasped in relief.
A man with long, spiky, golden hair and chaotic red pupils appeared, perched high on a thick branch.
"I mean, this guy clearly isn't someone you weaklings can handle. You should hurry up and find Zeref. I'll deal with this fairy alone," Zancrow scoffed.
"W-Well, Lord Zancrow, thank you for saving us! That guy is just too strong."
"He is the legendary Salamander, after all." The Grimoire Heart mages kept talking nervously as they scrambled to their feet and began to retreat.
Zancrow's eyes sharpened with psychotic fury.
He gritted his molars hard, and with a sweeping gesture of his hand, he roared.
"All of you, stop right there! Did you just say he's strong?! Answer me!"
"Oops, we let it slip..."
"We're so sorry!" the grunts whimpered, freezing in terror.
"In this world... there is no guild stronger than Grimoire Heart!" Zancrow screamed.
He narrowed his eyes, and terrifying, pure black flames began to rise from his skin.
Soon, the black flames enveloped his entire body.
"Black flames?" Natsu muttered, dropping his stance slightly.
He felt that this magical power was incredibly strange, heavy, and ominous.
Moreover, this was the first time Natsu had ever encountered someone who could cover and coil flames around their own body exactly like he did.
"Our guild is the absolute strongest in the world! Grimoire Heart has no need for pathetic weaklings like you!" Zancrow roared.
A massive pillar of black flames suddenly erupted from the very ground where his own Grimoire Heart mages stood.
The dark fire shattered the earth, launching his screaming allies high into the sky and slowly, agonizingly burning them to ashes.
"Hahaha! Hahaha!" Zancrow laughed arrogantly, thoroughly pleased with his sadistic handiwork.
"Damn you! How could you kill your own comrades?!" Natsu yelled, absolutely disgusted.
"Comrades? You weaklings from a pathetic fairy guild dare to act self-righteous to me? Stop spouting nonsense!" Zancrow tilted his head dismissively, scoffing at Natsu's accusation.
With a rapid wave of his hand, Zancrow sent a roaring tidal wave of black flames rushing directly toward Natsu.
"Fire doesn't work on me!" Natsu yelled confidently, opening his mouth to inhale.
Raizel had previously warned everyone through telepathy about Zancrow's God Slayer Magic and had specifically emphasized to Natsu that he could not consume these flames.
Unfortunately... Natsu either hadn't listened carefully, or his Dragneel stubbornness simply refused to believe it.
He just had to test it for himself.
"Natsu! Did you forget?! Raizel told us not to touch it!" Happy shouted frantically from the sidelines.
It wasn't until the black flame pillar drew dangerously close and rushed into his mouth that Natsu truly grasped the eerie, destructive nature of Zancrow's magic.
"Ahhh!!!" The black flames enveloped Natsu completely, burning him.
He dropped to his knees, clutching his throat in absolute agony as the dark fire scorched his insides.
"I really... can't eat it after all..." Natsu choked out.
"Just a mere, pathetic Dragon Slayer." Zancrow leaped down from the trees, his boots hitting the dirt as he taunted the boy.
"You actually thought you could devour the flames of a god? Flames that far surpass those of a mere dragon? Be careful, fairy, or you'll incur divine retribution."
"Flames of a god..." Though Natsu wasn't particularly well-read, he understood perfectly well that anything related to gods was likely formidable.
"Indeed. My magic is on a completely different level from yours," Zancrow smirked, his red eyes glowing in the smoke.
"I am a god killer! A God Slayer Mage!"
...
"Damn it, I'm completely exhausted..." Gray gasped, leaning heavily against a tree.
His magical power and physical stamina were nearly depleted from the endless waves of enemies.
"But we've taken down plenty of them," Loke said, adjusting his glasses while catching his breath.
"Hang in there, Gray!"
"Don't worry, the other guild members must have handled these weaklings too—"
"Wait," Loke suddenly interrupted, his Celestial Spirit senses flaring.
"I sense an incredibly powerful, dark presence..."
"Above us! Be careful!" Gray yelled, summoning an ice shield.
"Those weaklings were never a match for you. They were merely stalling to drain your magical power and waste your precious time," a smooth, arrogant voice echoed through the ruins.
"Allow me to entertain you all for a while."
Perched gracefully atop a towering, ancient stone pillar stood a golden-curled man wearing a crown—Zubal of the Seven Kin of Purgatory.
"This guy is on a whole different level from the trash we fought earlier..." Gray muttered, his ice magic chilling the air.
"Loke, stay alert!"
Elsewhere, deep in the darkest part of the island's forest, Erza and Juvia suddenly stopped in their tracks.
Standing silently in their path was a pink-haired girl wearing a heavy red cloak.
"Encountering enemies mid-operation requires immediate elimination," Meredy stated, her voice entirely devoid of emotion as she calmly observed Erza and Juvia before her.
Among the Seven Kin of Purgatory, Jellal and Meredy shared a close, protective bond, but Jellal had never disclosed any of his secret conversations involving Raizel to her.
Firstly, Jellal trusted that the Fairy Tail members wouldn't resort to lethal force against a child.
Secondly, the more people who knew a secret, the harder it was to keep.
Jellal believed that even if the truth suddenly came to light, Meredy wouldn't be implicated as a traitor and could escape the guild's wrath unscathed.
"Altering combat protocol: prioritize annihilation. Initiating battle," Meredy announced.
Her tone remained eerily calm, almost like a soulless automaton.
"This little girl..." Juvia couldn't help but murmur, her guard rising.
In her eyes, Meredy appeared to be thirteen or fourteen at most, perhaps even younger—her face was far too youthful to be on a battlefield.
"Do not underestimate her, Juvia. I can sense an incredibly eerie, heavy magical power emanating from her... it feels somewhat similar to Ultear's," Erza warned, summoning a sword to her hand.
Both Erza and Juvia perceived the deeply unsettling aura brought by Lost Magic.
Some Lost Magic had simply faded away due to the natural passage of time, while others were forbidden magics whose very existence had been actively erased by divine beings due to their dangerous nature.
And every single member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory practiced the latter.