Chapter 545 - 545: Brandish’s Hatred

"Watch out!"

Ankh reacted instantly.

He abandoned his attack on Dimaria and rushed toward Lucy.

The invisible figure hidden within the air ignored the danger and accelerated, reaching out to seize Dragon Cry and yank it away with all his strength.

Lucy stumbled violently from the pull, but she refused to let go of the staff.

Ankh's blade swept toward the unseen attacker without hesitation.

The mysterious man was forced to release Dragon Cry and vanish back into concealment.

A moment later, he circled around Ankh like a hunting dog and lunged for Lucy again.

Lucy's expression tightened.

Realizing she couldn't protect herself and the staff at the same time, she immediately threw Dragon Cry toward Ankh.

Ankh caught it cleanly.

Having lost his chance, the invisible attacker struck Lucy aside instead before retreating out of range.

Dimaria's expression grew noticeably more serious.

'Even Jacob failed?'

A figure slowly emerged from the shadows.

He was a stern middle-aged man in a formal suit, with a skull-like mark on his forehead.

At his feet lay Zancrow, whom he had apparently retrieved during the confusion.

Lucy recognized him immediately.

"You're the guy who fought Sawyer before!"

One of the Spriggan 12.

The assassin—Jacob Lessio.

Erza gritted her teeth and forced Dimaria back with a powerful slash.

Then she demanded coldly,

"Including Mard Geer, there are four members of the Spriggan 12 operating in Stella."

"What exactly are you planning?"

Dimaria gave a cold laugh and opened her mouth, clearly preparing some sarcastic reply.

Brandish answered first.

"Oh… Mard Geer is actually the only one assigned here."

Everyone looked at her.

Completely oblivious, Brandish continued in the same absent-minded tone.

"He heard the Fairy God of Death was here, so he asked Jacob, who was stationed in a nearby infiltration sector, to help."

"Then Dimaria got impatient and abandoned her own assignment so she could come here for revenge."

"As for me, I was skipping work when—"

"BRANDISH!!"

Dimaria lunged over and grabbed both of Brandish's cheeks.

She began stretching and kneading them like dough.

"STOP CASUALLY GIVING THE ENEMY OUR INTELLIGENCE!!"

Brandish's expression remained almost impressively lazy even while her face was being distorted.

Dimaria, meanwhile, looked like an exhausted senior guildmate desperately trying to teach a hopeless junior some common sense.

For a moment… the whole scene looked disturbingly similar to how members of Fairy Tail treated one another.

Erza clearly hadn't expected their enemy to be this forthcoming either.

Still, she quickly raised her sword again.

Jacob, meanwhile, remained composed like an older veteran supervising a group of troublesome youngsters.

"We failed to recover Dragon Cry."

He glanced toward the others.

"But that's fine. We gained something worthwhile."

"There's no reason to continue fighting here."

Everyone frowned.

Something about that statement felt wrong.

Ankh suddenly looked around.

"Where's Natsu?"

Gray blinked.

"He fell into that hole. Happy went down to get him…"

Then Gray froze.

"…Huh?"

His eyes widened.

Brandish was calmly holding a tiny person in one hand.

A very angry tiny person.

Natsu.

"LET ME GO!"

The shrunken Natsu struggled furiously in her palm, but his strength had clearly been reduced along with his size.

"Damn it! Give Happy back too!"

A moment later, another man climbed cheerfully out of the pit.

He was flamboyantly dressed and looked absurdly pleased with himself.

"Brandish-sama!"

He held something up triumphantly.

"I caught the cat too!"

Brandish responded with almost no enthusiasm.

"Good job."

The man was Marin Hollow, one of Brandish's subordinates.

His Spatial Magic wasn't particularly powerful in a direct fight, but it possessed an extremely troublesome property: anyone attempting to use spatial transportation within his range could be forcibly pulled into his own controlled space instead.

It wasn't overwhelming magic.

But against someone encountering it for the first time, it was an excellent ambush technique—and a perfect counter to Happy's greatest advantage.

From the very beginning, their real objective had been to isolate and capture one member of Team Natsu.

Natsu and Happy had walked straight into the trap.

Jacob then reached behind himself and tossed a small golden object toward Brandish.

"What you asked for."

Brandish caught it.

Her hand slowly opened.

A complicated expression appeared on her face as she stared at the golden key resting in her palm.

Lucy's face went white.

The key of the Zodiac Celestial Spirit Aquarius.

Her mother's old Aquarius Key.

Lucy immediately looked down at her own key pouch.

Then she exploded.

"THAT'S MINE!"

"GIVE IT BACK!"

The remaining members of Team Natsu gathered together.

Ankh held the Dragon God's Arsenal in one hand and Dragon Cry in the other.

His voice turned cold.

"Give us Natsu, Happy, and the key."

For the first time since appearing, Brandish's usual lazy indifference disappeared.

Her beautiful face twisted.

She stared directly at Lucy, genuine hatred burning in her eyes.

"You were never worthy of having Aquarius."

Lucy stiffened.

Then anger immediately flared.

"Aquarius is my friend!"

"A friend you got through blood and deceit!"

Brandish shouted back just as furiously.

Lucy froze.

She had absolutely no idea what Brandish was talking about.

Then Brandish's next words shattered what little composure she had left.

Brandish made no attempt to hide the hatred in her voice.

"The Aquarius Key belonged to my mother."

"And your mother—"

"Layla Heartfilia—"

"used underhanded means to murder her and steal it!"

Lucy staggered backward.

Her face went completely blank.

For several seconds, her mind simply stopped working.

Her mother?

Layla?

Murdered Brandish's mother?

Stole Aquarius's key?

None of it made sense.

Before anyone could properly process the accusation, however, one person suddenly moved.

Ankh.

He shot toward Brandish without the slightest hesitation.

His blade swept toward the arm holding Natsu, aimed to sever it cleanly at the shoulder.

Whatever tragic history Brandish had just revealed meant absolutely nothing compared to rescuing his companion.

But Brandish and Jacob had both personally witnessed Ankh's battle against Acnologia.

Neither had relaxed for even a second around him.

Their magic activated almost simultaneously.

"Age Seal!"

"Transport!"

Time distorted.

Space folded.

Dimaria, Brandish, Jacob, Marin, Natsu, Happy, and Zancrow rapidly vanished beneath the combined effects.

Only Brandish's furious voice remained behind.

No wonder Alvarez had sent those particular people together.

Dimaria's control over time combined with Jacob and Marin's Spatial Magic made them almost absurdly difficult to prevent from escaping.

Ankh slowly lowered his sword.

His expression was complicated.

The others turned toward Lucy.

She looked as though Brandish's accusation had physically struck her.

For a long moment, nobody spoke.

Erza eventually placed a hand gently on Lucy's shoulder.

"That was only her version of what happened."

Her voice was firm but gentle.

"You don't know the truth yet."

"You need to confirm it for yourself."

Lucy nodded mechanically.

"I… know."

Her voice was barely louder than a whisper.

Someone had just accused the mother she adored of being a murderer.

Worse, Brandish had told her she was unworthy of Aquarius—the Celestial Spirit who had been part of Lucy's life since childhood.

Those accusations struck directly at two of Lucy's deepest emotional vulnerabilities.

And because she knew nothing about what had actually happened, she couldn't even defend herself.

Ankh sighed.

This night was becoming exhausting in ways he hadn't remotely anticipated.

And apparently—it still wasn't over.

His gaze suddenly shifted toward a patch of bushes nearby.

Ankh stared at them for a moment.

Then he spoke.

"Alright, little girl."

His voice carried clearly through the darkness.

"What are you doing here?"