"Fairy Glitter..." Bluenote murmured, looking at the sky. "Fairy Glitter. It is said to be one of your guild's Three Great Fairy Magics, alongside Fairy Law. Am I correct?"
"What... are you even talking about? I have no idea... I'm getting crushed..." Natsu groaned.
Under the immense pressure, Natsu spoke in broken, pained phrases.
Fairy Tail did indeed possess the Three Great Magics: Fairy Law, Fairy Sphere, and Fairy Glitter.
Only a portion of the senior members actually knew about them. If Natsu had been a bit more studious, he might have known the lore. But unfortunately, he was anything but scholarly.
Natsu, who had a sworn enmity with reading books, knew nothing about the Fairy Magics.
No one had mentioned it to Wendy either, and Lucy, having just joined the guild, couldn't possibly know the secret history.
"That radiance permits no enemies to exist; it is a merciless, divine light," Bluenote recited softly.
"We've never heard of it!" Lucy yelled.
Soon, Lucy followed Natsu's fate and was violently pressed flat against the ground by a spike in gravity.
"I want to obtain that magic."
"I'm Igneel's son! How can I let myself be crushed to the ground so easily?!" Natsu roared.
With a ferocious expression, Natsu strained his muscles and struggled to push himself up from the crushed rock.
"This is unacceptable!"
The fact that Natsu could still force himself to run towards Bluenote under the sheer, bone-breaking effects of Gravity Magic was a testament to his monstrous willpower.
"He's actually running!" Wendy gasped.
"He can still move in this gravity? As expected of Natsu," Lucy watched in astonishment.
"I believe the spell is sealed beneath Mavis's tomb. Could you tell me where that tomb is?" Bluenote asked calmly.
He watched, unfazed, as Natsu leaped high into the air, his limbs wreathed in roaring flames.
"He's flying!" Lucy cheered. "He really just refuses to give up!"
"Fire Dragon's—" Before Natsu could finish his roar mid-ascent, he was repelled by an invisible, crushing force.
He was sent flying violently back to his original spot in the crater, kicking up a massive cloud of dust upon impact.
"Are you even listening to me?" Bluenote sighed.
"Natsu!" Wendy and Lucy cried out.
They turned to see Natsu, covered in bleeding wounds, collapsed and powerless on the ground.
"This guy... is he the gravity man Raizel warned us about? He's too strong..." Lucy trembled.
"Tell me the location of Mavis's tomb. Otherwise, I will crush you all in one go," Bluenote threatened.
Small purple magic circles appeared directly above the heads of Natsu and the two girls, pinning all three of them down with isolated Gravity Magic, rendering them entirely immobile.
"We... will never... tell you!" Natsu choked out.
Despite their pained expressions, their answers were unanimous.
"In that case... I'll just dispose of you. I can always ask someone else later." Bluenote leisurely jumped down into the large pit and slowly approached the three, raising his boot to crush Natsu's head.
'Someone... anyone, please help us...'
It might seem spineless, but facing a monster they couldn't possibly defeat, Lucy could only pray for a miracle.
"Hey! You! I won't allow you to hurt my friends!" a fierce voice yelled from the tree line.
Cana appeared on the ridge behind Bluenote, firing a barrage of magical cards from her hand.
"Cana!" Lucy gasped in relief.
"Cana-san!" Wendy cheered.
Bluenote simply raised his hand without looking back.
All the glowing cards plummeted harmlessly into the dirt the moment they entered the heavy gravity field around him.
"Magic Card: Summoned Beast!" Cana yelled, flicking a golden card.
A massive black panther with blue flames emanating from its paws materialized before her, leaping down into the crater.
Natsu forced himself up, and he and the black panther charged at Bluenote from the left and right simultaneously.
Bluenote extended both hands horizontally, glowing purple magic circles appearing on his palms.
The bedrock on the ground shattered, and both Natsu and the black panther were sent flying backward by the sheer repulsive impact.
"Under my Gravity Magic, no one can move without my permission," Bluenote stated coldly.
As soon as Bluenote finished speaking, the original crater sank even deeper, and this time the area of effect was much larger.
Even the summoned black panther was pressed tightly against the dirt, whining, unable to move a muscle.
"Magic Card: Thunderbolt!" Cana yelled from the high ground.
She unleashed a massive, crackling lightning bolt from her cards, aiming straight for Bluenote's head.
Bluenote merely blocked with one hand.
The lightning bolt instantly soared upward upon reaching his gravity field, curving harmlessly into the sky.
Deprived of its magical target, the lightning dissipated into the downpour of rain.
"Since more people have arrived, I'll ask you: Where is Fairy Glitter?" Bluenote demanded, looking up at Cana.
Though puzzled by Bluenote's specific question, Cana replied fiercely.
"Fairy Glitter is a sacred magic that only recognized members of Fairy Tail can use! Someone like you can't wield it!"
"Wrong! By tracing the origin of all magic, one discovers that all magic stems from a single, ancient source. No matter what kind of magic it is, its roots lie in one, and only one, magic."
"The 'One Magic'?" Lucy couldn't help but voice her confusion despite the pain. "I feel like I've heard this philosophical theory somewhere before..."
"Anyone who approaches the dark abyss of the magical path can effortlessly use all types of magic," Bluenote preached.
"My body... move!" Natsu roared.
He pressed his bleeding hands against the crushed rock, straining with all his might in a desperate attempt to stand up.
Struggling, Natsu lifted his upper body, only to have the gravity violently slam his head back into the ground, creating a deep crater and leaving him stuck like an ostrich with his head buried.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu muffled into the dirt.
Orange flames erupted wildly from the cracks in the ground, sending debris flying and temporarily obstructing Bluenote's line of sight.
"Stop getting in the way, you annoying brat! Since that's how it is, I'll send you to hell first!" Bluenote slowly walked up to Natsu, raising his hand, attempting to permanently crush the boy's spine with his Gravity Magic.
Natsu glared back defiantly through the dirt.
The moment Bluenote raised his hand to deliver the lethal blow, a massive explosive surge of white magic suddenly struck him from the side, sending the heavy man flying across the crater.
Bluenote barely managed to stabilize himself, skidding backward by digging one hand deep into the bedrock to stop his momentum.
"Gildarts!" Natsu cheered.
Bluenote looked up.
Standing at the edge of the crater was Gildarts Clive, his veins bulging, his expression stern and radiating pure fury.
"That guy... is Gildarts Clive..." Bluenote noted, dusting off his coat.
"Cana, take them away from here," Gildarts ordered, not taking his eyes off the dark mage.
"What?!" Natsu's excited expression upon seeing Gildarts vanished, replaced by a look of stubborn defiance.
White magical power began to surge continuously from Gildarts' body like a raging storm, and Bluenote responded in kind, his purple gravity aura flaring to match it.
"Uncle Gildarts seems really angry... I've never seen him like this before," Wendy whispered, shivering from the sheer magical pressure.
When Bluenote had first made his move against the kids, Gildarts had already been rushing through the jungle.
Unfortunately, he was a step too late and Natsu and the others ended up severely injured.
Thankfully, he had previously instructed Cana not to worry about him and to go assist the others instead, preventing a worse fatal outcome.
But Gildarts was already furious.
Bluenote had not only sought the First Master's sacred grave, but he had actively tortured and targeted the young members of Fairy Tail—both were unforgivable sins to him.
"Take them and go!" Gildarts roared as he charged forward.
Bluenote clenched his palm, and the massive rock slab Gildarts was standing on violently flipped over, leaving the Ace temporarily suspended upside down in mid-air.
"The ground has actually been inverted!" Lucy gasped.
With just one hand pressed against the rising rock, Gildarts unleashed his Crash magic, instantly shattering the boulder into countless, harmless glowing cubes.
Gildarts descended fiercely from above while Bluenote surged upward from below, his fist glowing with gravity.
Fist against fist.
When their knuckles violently collided in mid-air, the resulting shockwave tore through the earth, engulfing the entire crater and flattening the surrounding trees for miles.
Natsu, Lucy, and Wendy quickly raised their arms to shield their eyes from the blinding blast.
Ultimately, they couldn't maintain their balance against the gale-force winds and tumbled backward onto the safe grass.glitt