Chapter 279

Chapter 279: Chapter 279

"Calm down, Ultear. I can’t exactly come anywhere near you right now..."

"Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down?!" Ultear shouted. "That’s a god’s curse, Marshall! Do you even understand what that means? It could ruin your entire life!"

Marshall scratched his head.

He had expected Ultear to be shocked, but he hadn’t anticipated this kind of reaction.

"Think about it for a second. Zeref—the person you originally wanted to find—has the exact same curse. You weren’t nearly this worked up about it back then."

"How is that remotely the same?! I don’t care if Zeref drops dead! You’re my.... you’re my Marshall!"

Ultear was so anxious that the words came spilling out before she could stop them.

Back when she studied at the Magic Academy, she had seriously researched Zeref’s history.

According to the records, Zeref had displayed extraordinary talent from a young age, only to be cursed by a god during his studies.

The curse killed every teacher and student around him, after which he supposedly descended onto the path of Black Magic.

At the time, Ultear had been drowning in self-destructive thoughts.

She hadn’t cared whether following Zeref would get her killed.

If she survived, fine.

If she died, that was fine too.

But things were different now.

Being around Marshall made her happy.

Every hope she had for the future had become tied to him, and she no longer wanted to die in the slightest.

Ultear had already planned everything out.

Once she finished selling out old Hades during this operation, she intended to retire from Grimoire Heart for good, leave her old identity behind, take Meredy with her, and return to Marshall’s side to live quietly as his maid.

That was the happiest future she could imagine.

If Marshall was now afflicted with the same terrifying curse as Zeref, however, all of those dreams suddenly seemed as though they could collapse.

Ultear’s thoughts were in complete disarray.

Right now, all she wanted was to reach Marshall somehow.

"All right, all right. Don’t panic." Marshall softened his voice. "I’ll figure out how to deal with the curse. Trust me, okay?"

Then he added almost casually, "You’re the only person I’ve told about this, Ultear. I thought you, of all people, would understand me."

"!?"

’The only person?’

Ultear abruptly forced herself to calm down.

If there was one thing about her imagined future that still bothered her, it was that Marshall would never belong exclusively to her.

She knew perfectly well that he had several childhood friends and an incurably flirtatious personality.

Who knew how many women he might eventually marry?

Ultear had long since prepared herself for that reality.

Because of her childhood and everything she had done during the darker years of her life, Ultear carried a deeply rooted sense of inferiority.

A part of her had always believed that someone as "guilty" as her belonged in the shadows.

As a result, she had always been careful about where she believed she stood in Marshall’s life.

She had even mentally prepared herself to help him manage the complicated relationships around him one day.

If she could never rank as highly in Marshall’s heart as the girls who had grown up beside him and shared their lives with him every day, Ultear had already accepted that.

But now...

Marshall had told her something he hadn’t told any of them.

He trusted her!

The realization hit Ultear so hard that she nearly became dizzy.

"I-Is that so? W-Well, honestly, what am I supposed to do with you? I suppose even Marshall understands how reliable I am."

She took several breaths.

"I-I’m calm. See? I’m calming down."

"..."

Marshall looked at her with a faint trace of pity.

’Poor girl.’

’Have I accidentally conditioned her way too hard over the years? Is this really enough to make her that happy?’

Still, he hadn’t lied.

At present, the only beings who knew about his curse were his Celestial Spirits and Apostles.

And technically speaking, none of them were human.

"Marshall..." Ultear finally asked, much calmer now. "You said you can solve the Curse of Ankhseram. Do you really mean that?"

"Of course."

Marshall answered without hesitation.

"I’ll deal with it eventually. There’s nothing I can’t accomplish, right? It’s only a matter of time. A mere curse isn’t going to stop me."

"But Zeref has been alive for hundreds of years, and apparently even he never—"

"He’s him. I’m me."

Marshall cut her off.

"Just because he couldn’t do something doesn’t mean I can’t."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Ultear, don’t tell me you don’t believe in me."

"No! Of course I believe you!"

Ultear immediately shook her head.

"...Fine. I believe you’ll find a solution."

She hesitated before asking more quietly,

"Can you tell me what the curse is actually like? Does it hurt?"

"Not especially. The real problem is that I can’t control it yet."

Marshall proceeded to explain the curse’s activation and what happened whenever the expanding wave appeared.

Unfortunately, the explanation only made Ultear anxious again.

"It indiscriminately absorbs the lives around you..."

Her face fell.

"Then doesn’t that mean you can never stay beside me again?"

"For now, yeah."

Marshall shrugged helplessly.

"But I’ll find a way around that sooner or later."

He thought for a moment.

"Once I’ve finished testing things with Brian, maybe you could remotely possess Diligence and stay near me that way."

"Diligence?"

"Oh! Right, I forgot to tell you."

Marshall brightened immediately.

"I modified that smaller body of yours and created an entirely new soul for it. I sent her off to clean the house a little while ago. Want me to introduce you?"

Ultear blinked.

"You mean... that miniature body I used before?"

"Yep."

"Maybe next time. That isn’t important right now."

Compared with some artificial doll, Ultear was much more concerned about the immediate crisis.

"If you absolutely have to stay away from crowds, then what are we supposed to do about Grimoire Heart?"

She suddenly had an idea.

"What if I sneak back onto the airship right now, destroy Hades’s heart, and immediately run? Without it, they’d have no choice but to postpone the attack."

Marshall rejected the idea immediately.

"No. Too risky."

He shook his head.

"The only reason we have such a huge advantage right now is because you’re feeding me information. They know almost nothing about us, while we know exactly what they’re planning."

"If you abandon Grimoire Heart now, we lose that advantage. Then they’ll be operating in the dark while we’re the ones exposed."

Marshall leaned back thoughtfully.

"And since Fairy Tail will remain their target regardless, delaying the attack doesn’t actually solve anything. We might as well use this opportunity to wipe them out completely."

He sighed.

If only he could control the Curse of Ankhseram.

He could simply teleport into the middle of Grimoire Heart and eliminate the entire guild in one shot.

Instead, he was stuck in this ridiculous situation where his strongest ability was also the one ability he couldn’t rely on.

"Tell you what, Ultear. Can you send me detailed information on everyone in Grimoire Heart?"

Marshall continued, "Include the Magic Power readings from the detector too. I need a complete picture of the enemy’s strength."

"No problem. I’ll organize everything and send it over."

Marshall intended to compare both sides properly before deciding what to do.

Hades was unquestionably terrifying, but Marshall believed Gildarts should at least be capable of holding him back for a while.

If Fairy Tail could defeat the remaining Grimoire Heart members during that window, destroy the external heart aboard their airship, and then concentrate everyone’s strength against Hades afterward...

they might actually have a chance.

Maybe he should discuss it with Makarov.

This was a crisis involving the entire guild, after all. It would be foolish for Marshall to make every decision alone.

Besides, who knew?

Perhaps the old man still had some secret trump card hidden away.

Once Ultear sent him an extraordinarily detailed package of first-hand intelligence on Grimoire Heart, Marshall immediately contacted Makarov.

The moment the call came through, Makarov looked positively delighted.

He had the expression of an old man in a quiet village who had just received an unexpected phone call from his grandchild living far away in the city.

"Oh! Marshall! What brings you here? Have you finally finished whatever you’ve been working on over there?"

"Master, I need to tell you something."

Marshall paused.

"Try not to get too worked up."

Makarov’s smile faded slightly.

"What is it?"

Marshall answered with complete seriousness.

"Fairy Tail’s Second Master is coming to kill you."

Makarov stared at him.

"???"

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