Lucy and Gray slowed their frantic pace through the jungle slightly, allowing Kagura to finally reach them.
The three reunited once more while panting heavily.
As they moved through the dense forest, they soon encountered another bizarre member of the Seven Kin.
He was massive, resembling a sumo wrestler in build, with an especially large head, dark hair, and a bright yellow cloak draped over his broad shoulders.
This was Kain Hikaru, one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory.
"Finally... I found someone!" Kain muttered upon spotting Kagura and the others.
He quickly wiped his sweaty forehead with a handkerchief.
Kain had legitimately begun to suspect he was on a fake deserted Tenrou Island.
If not for the occasional massive explosions echoing in the distance, he would have been utterly bewildered.
"Who are you people...? Ah, never mind, it doesn't matter anyway. You're all going to die here," Kain mumbled, practically talking to himself.
"In that case, we have no choice but to deal with this guy right now," Lucy said.
She unfastened the rope from her waist, keeping a firm eye on Kain's erratic movements.
Suddenly breaking into a cold sweat, Kain ducked clumsily behind a nearby tree, peeking out with only half his face visible.
"Staring at me like that won't do any good, fairies! Because I'm not scared at all... not one bit! I am Kain Hikaru, one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory from Grimoire Heart! I'm really strong, you know!"
"His words and actions are complete opposites..." Gray commented dryly, sweatdropping as he observed Kain's cowardly behavior.
"Whether the opponent is strong or not doesn't matter. For our guild, if they're an enemy, we fight. Bring it on!" Kagura declared, resting her hand on her sword hilt.
Lucy raised her right hand level, pointing the crackling star whip directly at Kain.
"Y-You wait a second... I think I feel a bit itchy over here..." Kain squeaked.
He gestured awkwardly with his hand, then started violently scratching the back of his head.
"?" Lucy was utterly confused.
"Alright, let's begin!" Kain suddenly cheered, rummaging through his clothes.
"My ultimate magic is Ushi no Koku Mairi. I'll show you!"
"Just hearing that creepy name gives me a bad feeling..." Lucy broke into a cold sweat and took half a step back.
"Alright, now quickly give me a strand of your hair!" Kain demanded.
He stepped forward holding a creepy stitched voodoo doll, but his entire posture was completely full of openings, as if he had no defenses at all...
"?" Lucy was baffled once again.
"Do you really think that's gonna happen, idiot?" Kagura narrowed her eyes slightly.
With a swift horizontal slash of Archenemy, she blocked Kain's attempt to advance any further.
"So fierce! But my Ushi no Koku Mairi requires your hair to work!" Kain whined.
"I refuse!" Lucy yelled.
"But... once I place your hair on this 'Mr. Cursey' doll, I can control your body however I want! It's an extremely powerful curse-killing magic, you know!" Kain bragged, shaking the doll.
"It is incredibly rare to meet a villain who just openly reveals their entire magic weakness like that..." Gray was completely dumbfounded, entirely unable to comprehend Kain's sheer stupidity.
"If that's the case, then we're even less likely to hand our hair over!" Lucy yelled.
"You got me!" Kain gasped, slapping his forehead in realization.
"Did you only just realize that now?!" Lucy couldn't hold back her urge to complain any longer.
"In that case..." Kain frantically dug through his messy, sweaty hair, finally yanking out a single strand with a wince.
"By simply attaching my own hair strand to Mr. Cursey's head like this... it's complete!" Kain threw his head back and howled with excitement after performing just this single action.
"What on earth is he so worked up about?" Gray was utterly baffled.
"Come on, you try it now!" Kain enthusiastically handed Mr. Cursey directly to Lucy.
After exchanging completely bewildered glances with Kagura and Gray, Lucy cautiously, cooperatively accepted Mr. Cursey...
"So? Can you feel the tremendous magical power?!" Kain acted like an eager salesman, vigorously promoting his Mr. Cursey doll.
"You can kiss it, hug it tight—oh, and I'm still a bit hungry right now..." As he spoke, Kain rubbed his large stomach.
Thump!
Lucy made a downward throwing motion while clutching Mr. Cursey.
Instantly, Kain's entire body suddenly flew up uncontrollably into the air before his head smashed brutally into the dirt.
"Hahaha!!!" Lucy laughed.
Gray and Kagura couldn't help but tremble, covering their mouths with suppressed laughter.
"I say, you—!" Kain mumbled from the dirt.
Before Kain could finish speaking, Lucy aggressively twisted the doll, making him do a perfect handstand split.
"Breakdancing!" Lucy cheered, spinning the doll on the ground. Kain spun wildly on his head.
"Camel pose!"
"Pigeon pose!"
"Handstand!"
"Lucy, make him do a windmill!" Gray pointed and commented eagerly from the sidelines.
Under Lucy's merciless control, Kain was forced to strike numerous bizarre embarrassing poses.
"Hey! Stop that right now! Those are three highly embarrassing poses of a gigolo!" Kain cried out in humiliation.
"..." Lucy manipulated Mr. Cursey with an utterly innocent expression, bending the doll backward.
"Don't do that! I still need my eyes to see!" Gray quickly covered his eyes with his palms as Kain struck a horribly suggestive pose.
"You've made me angry!"
Enraged, Kain launched himself violently through the air, trying to aggressively snatch Mr. Cursey back from Lucy.
Thud— Kain crashed face-first into a thick solid ice wall mid-air, his squished face sliding slowly, comically down the frozen surface.
Ever since confirming that Mr. Cursey actually worked, Gray had been firmly guarding against Kain trying to reclaim it.
Kagura had also prepared to block Kain with her sword, but relaxed her grip upon seeing Gray's ice wall.
"Alright, enough playing around. Since he voluntarily gave us the very doll that can control him, isn't this exactly like delivering himself to our doorstep?" Kagura sighed.
She had never expected Kain to be this absurd—had he become stupid from practicing dark magic?
Meeting enemies and immediately introducing his own magic, then voluntarily handing over the very doll that could control him... it was pathetic.
"You've made me angry! Now even if you beg me to date you, it's too late—our ambiguous romance ends here!" Kain pointed angrily at Lucy after peeling himself off the ice wall.
"When did we ever perform a romance drama?!" Lucy shrieked.
"When I get angry, I become extremely cruel..."
Before Kain could finish his dark threat, Lucy flicked the doll.
His heavy body uncontrollably face-planted into the dirt again.
"How despicable! You damaged my incredibly handsome face!" Kain wailed.
"Can't deny it, this guy's narcissism is on another level entirely," Gray sweatdropped.
He couldn't understand what twisted aesthetic standards Kain had that allowed him to consider himself handsome.
"Let's just finish him," Kagura said coldly, not wanting to watch Kain's idiotic antics anymore.
"Lucy, give me the doll," Gray asked.
After taking Mr. Cursey from Lucy, Gray smirked and began aggressively channeling freezing ice magic power directly into the cursed doll...
"So cold... so cold..." Kain's body started trembling uncontrollably.
Slowly, his entire body began to freeze from the inside out, rendering him entirely unable to speak.
Soon, he was completely encased in a solid thick block of ice—perfectly preserved in a posture of opening his mouth wide as if trying to scream something.
"Is this really the elite Seven Kin of Purgatory? It's a bit... how should I put it..." Gray tapped on the solid ice block, completely at a loss for words to describe Kain.
Lucy twirled her finger near her temple.
"Love-addled brain... or maybe he's just gone totally loony from practicing dark magic..."