The time is March X696.
Two years after the end of the Second Trade War.
Because of the involvement of mages in this trade war...
It ultimately led to a major reshuffling of power among the lords and nobles throughout the Kingdom of Fiore and even the entire continent of Ishgar!
At the same time, in view of the powerful individual might of mages, the Magic Council ERA issued an order that after the Second Trade War, large-scale armed conflicts between mage guilds were absolutely forbidden. Any conflicts must be resolved through negotiation and mediation.
Meanwhile.
Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia Town, Fairy Tail Guild.
"Please, Guild Master, give this child a name!"
A gentle woman lay on a hospital bed, cradling a newborn baby in her arms. She spoke softly to the small Guild Master, Mavis, who had stopped growing ten years ago after using the unfinished black magic 'Law' to protect everyone during a battle with the dark mage guild, Blue Skull.
"Let's call him Makarov! A gentle king."
Mavis thought for a moment and then spoke gently with a smile.
One of the important reasons why Mavis, after being awakened from the grave by the magic of the Fairy Tail guild, resolutely and unconditionally trusted the third Guild Master, Makarov, was that she had 'watched' Makarov grow up, and even his name was given by her.
"Makarov?!"
"That's really a good name..."
"Then Makarov, from now on, I'll leave him to you, Guild Master Mavis."
"I hope you will do your best to... raise... him."
The gentle woman lying on the hospital bed, who was also Yuri Dreyar's wife and Makarov's biological mother, Rita Dreyar, after using her last bit of strength and holding on, finally got what she wanted from Mavis. She lost all her strength and slumped heavily on the bed, her face pale as if she had lost all color and... vitality.
"Rita! Rita!!"
"Pull yourself together! Rita!"
At this moment, Yuri, who had been standing smugly in the ward, smiling and watching all this, wrapped in happiness, finally panicked. He took a step forward, knelt beside the bed, held his wife's soft hand tightly, and shouted his wife's name loudly.
"..."
Unfortunately, Yuri's shouts were met with no response.
"She seems to have exhausted her stamina."
The doctor beside him spoke softly to Yuri.
"No matter what, please save her..."
Yuri's eyes were bloodshot as he pleaded with the doctor.
"No! It's not like that!"
"No!!"
On the other side, Mavis, the Guild Master of Fairy Tail, saw Rita lying on the bed, completely lifeless, as if she was about to die at any moment. She seemed to recall something bad, and her body trembled uncontrollably, beads of sweat dripping from her face...
"I have to get out of here, I have to get out of here..."
Before long, at a moment of everyone's anxiety, Mavis suddenly held her head and shouted in pain. Then, ignoring everyone's attempts to stop her, she resolutely ran out of the Fairy Tail guild's infirmary and into the forest outside Magnolia Town.
"Mavis! Wait..."
"Where are you going?! Mavis..."
Precht and Warrod saw this and shouted at the departing Mavis.
But Mavis completely ignored them. Her mind was filled with the words that Zeref had said to her when they met for the second time...
After using the unfinished black magic 'Law', Mavis was no longer a normal person. She was an immortal being 'favored' by the curse of the god Ankhseram.
However, immortality is against the laws of nature, and no one can escape paying the price. The price that those cursed by 'Ankhseram' have to pay is...
Never to love anyone!
Once they fall in love, the 'Ankhseram' curse within them will activate and completely plunder the lives of those they love.
Her immortality was built on the suffering of those around her!
If she could, she would rather have never possessed such power.
"Damn it! What the hell happened?"
In the infirmary, Precht and Warrod ultimately didn't chase after her. The most important thing right now was to find a way to save Yuri's wife, Rita.
After Rita recovered, they would slowly search for Mavis.
At this moment, Precht and Warrod had no idea...
Today would be the last time they saw Mavis.
"Doctor, how is Rita?!"
On the other side, Yuri's eyes were bloodshot, filled with red blood vessels. He looked at the best doctors in Magnolia Town who were surrounding Rita's bed and asked in a deep voice.
"Honestly, it's not looking good."
"Your wife's condition seems to have always been poor."
"Originally, she had been holding on, especially after giving birth to your child. Your wife seemed to relax as if relieved, and then she completely collapsed!"
"Right now, her life force is declining at a rate that even we doctors can't reverse!"
"Once her life force reaches its lowest point, even we..."
"To be precise, probably no one in this world can save her..."
The doctor, after carefully examining Rita's condition with medical magic tools, sighed and shook his head, speaking helplessly.
It wasn't that he didn't want to save Yuri's wife, but he really couldn't.
"How could this be?!"
"Damn it! Why is this happening?"
"Why is the heavens treating Rita like this..."
"Such a kind Rita?!"
Yuri let out a cry of despair, his eyes filled with hopelessness.
Perhaps for a husband who deeply loves his wife, the most painful thing in the world is to watch his wife slowly die without being able to do anything.
"Perhaps, I can take a look."
Just as Yuri was breaking down, and Warrod and Precht were silent, a slightly hoarse voice sounded from behind the three of them.
"Who?"
Everyone naturally turned to look.
They saw a man wearing a white coat like a medical worker, with a clown mask on his face, making it impossible to see his appearance...
But no matter how you looked at him, you would feel that this man was very suspicious, standing there with his hands in his pockets.
The man had been standing in the ward for an unknown amount of time, silently looking at Rita on the bed, seemingly thinking about something.
"Who are you?"
"Why are you in our Fairy Tail guild's infirmary?"
"Is Rita's problem related to you?"
Precht frowned immediately. He strode up to the man in the clown mask and grabbed his collar.
"..."
In response, the man in the clown mask seemed too lazy to answer Precht's words.
His clown mask was worn on his face for work...
As for Precht's clown mask, it was worn in his heart.
The man thought to himself, 'Old Precht! You are the real clown.'
"Are you deaf, you bastard?"
"Answer my question quickly..."
Precht, seeing the man in the clown mask ignoring him, became completely furious. He raised his right hand, as if to hit the masked man's face.
"Stop!"
At this critical moment...
It was Yuri, who was still guarding Rita's bedside, who shouted to stop Precht's actions. He turned his head to look at the man in the clown mask whose collar was being grabbed by Precht and said in a deep voice, "Do you really have a way to treat Rita?!"
"I can try."
The man in the clown mask finally answered.
"You bastard..."
Precht finally understood...
This guy wearing a funny clown mask was just simply ignoring him.
This made Precht furious, but he didn't know what to say.
"Then I'll leave it to you."
Yuri got up from the bedside, came to the man wearing the clown mask, grabbed the man's hand forcefully, and earnestly entrusted him.
"Leave it to me."
In response, the man wearing the clown mask nodded slightly.
"Hey! Yuri, this guy is very strange, don't trust him easily..."
Seeing this, Precht, out of caution, reminded Yuri.
"At this point..."
"Besides trusting him, do I have any other options?!"
Yuri smiled bitterly, looked at Precht with despair, and asked back.
"This..."
"I understand."
Precht, upon hearing this, finally let go of the man in the clown mask whose collar he was tightly gripping, and allowed this suspicious person wearing a mask to approach Rita, who was unconscious and hovering between life and death.
"Enchant: Stamina!"
"Enchant: Nutrition!"
"Enchant: Life!"
After approaching Rita, the man in the clown mask didn't say anything and immediately cast three powerful 'high-level' enchantments...
Even Precht, Warrod, and Yuri, who had participated in several magic wars, had never seen enchantment magic of this level.
"Ugh..."
Along with the masked man's high-level enchantment...
Rita, who was lying on the bed with one foot already in the grave, suddenly let out a moan. Her complexion visibly improved, and her breathing became steady.
"Incredible!"
"This is simply a miracle..."
"He actually pulled a dying person back from hell."
The doctors didn't understand the masked man's methods, after all, they weren't mages.
These doctors simply knew that Rita, who was supposed to die today, seemed like she wouldn't die. Not only would she not die today, but she wouldn't die in the future either. She could live a long life and remain healthy.
"This is enchantment magic?!"
"I've never heard of anyone being able to train enchantment magic to this degree..."
As for Yuri, Precht, and Warrod, who were mages, they were completely dumbfounded.
"Pa~"
Before the three could think further...
The man wearing the clown mask suddenly waved his hand gently in the air, and everyone saw a white robe appear out of thin air in his hand...
"A mage with spatial attributes!"
This scene shocked Yuri and the others even more. They didn't expect that the masked man in front of them could use two completely different types of magic at the same time.
"Who is he?!"
"He must be a senior in the magic world."
"Why is he hiding his identity?"
"Could it be that if he took off his mask, his true identity would cause a huge sensation in Magnolia Town, or even in the Kingdom of Fiore?"
"It must be so..."
"Thank you, senior, for your kindness and for not getting angry because of our rudeness, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable..."
Just as Yuri and the others were shocked by the identity of the masked man...
The masked man had already gently placed the white robe in his hand on Rita's body!
As the robe covered Rita's body...
Everyone could almost see with their naked eyes that the snow-white robe suddenly became turbid.
"This is?!"
This scene once again shocked Precht, Warrod, and Yuri.
Because there were so many things that shocked them in a short period of time, they were momentarily speechless, just opening their mouths without knowing what to say.
"This is some kind of powerful curse."
"This curse is so powerful that ordinary people who are not strong enough will immediately lose their vitality if they come into contact with it even a little."
"Even the greatest magical creature in the world..."
"will also lose its vitality because of the power of this curse."
"What a terrifying power."
The masked man, or rather, Ian who had traveled through time...
Seeing the dragon scale cloak that he had personally put on Rita, which had gone from snow-white to slightly gray, had countless beads of cold sweat on his forehead.
Even a 'Dragon God' level dragon scale cloak would be deprived of such a huge amount of vitality by this curse. Once an ordinary person was locked by this curse, there was no possibility of survival.
"Curse, someone cursed Rita?!"
"Who did it?! Damn it..."
At this time, Yuri, after hearing that the reason why Rita suddenly lost her vitality after giving birth to Makarov was not only because of physical weakness, but also because of a powerful curse that could take people's lives, his face suddenly changed and he said angrily.
"Have you heard of the curse of the god Ankhseram?"
In response, Ian took out another white dragon scale cloak and carefully put it on the newborn Makarov. Then he turned his head to look at Yuri, Precht, and Warrod and spoke.
"The curse of the god Ankhseram?"
As Ian's voice fell, Yuri and the other two were naturally confused.
"Senior, can you tell us what the curse of the god Ankhseram is?"
Precht's attitude towards Ian changed quickly. After he confirmed that Ian's strength was far above his and unfathomable, he put himself in the position of a student, bowed deeply to Ian, and asked for guidance.
"Legend has it that there is a god in this world who controls life and death. His name is Ankhseram. Although he is a god, he is not very broad-minded. He absolutely does not allow any mortals to invade his domain. Once someone strays into it, he will cast a curse on them! Those who are cursed by him will gain immortality and a power that destines them to a life of solitude.
Ian told the three people the image of 'Ankhseram' that was in his mind.
"The cursed person will be immortal?!"
"Haha! Isn't that a good thing?!"
"May I ask how to obtain this curse?"
Warrod laughed upon hearing this, looked at Ian, and joked.
"..."
The response to Warrod was everyone's silence.
"I'm just kidding! Just kidding..."
Seeing that everyone seemed to have misunderstood him, Warrod quickly explained.
"In this world, nothing can be obtained without paying a price. Everything that God bestows upon you has a price tag attached to it in the dark."
Ian looked at Warrod, shook his head gently, and continued.
"If the price of immortality is that your body completely stops developing. From this day on, everything you love, from the smallest plants and trees to your closest friends and family, will be deprived of their vitality! The more you love, the more these things you love will move away from you. From the moment you are cursed, you are destined to walk alone. Do you still want immortality?!"
Ian told Warrod and the others the price that needed to be paid after being cursed by Ankhseram.
"Then let's just forget it, shall we?"
Upon hearing this, Warrod smiled awkwardly at Ian.
He couldn't help but shake his head just imagining the lonely life.
If the price of eternal life was the death of his friends and family, and everything he loved would be deprived of its vitality by the curse on him, then this eternal life would be meaningless.
This was indeed the most terrifying curse in the world.
"Wait, you said that the cursed person's body completely stops developing?!"
Just as Warrod was still unable to extricate himself from the painful life he had imagined, Precht seemed to have thought of something. He looked at Ian with a shocked expression.
"Could it be..."
After Precht's voice fell, Yuri and Warrod's faces suddenly became unsightly. They seemed to have thought of something that made them feel desperate.
"Where's Mavis?!"
"Where did Mavis go?"
Yuri breathed rapidly, his eyes scanned the guild hall, but he couldn't see Mavis's figure, which made him anxious and angry. He roared, "Has anyone seen Guild Master Mavis?!"
"..."
Yuri's words were like a heavy hammer...
striking the hearts of everyone in the Fairy Tail guild. However, everyone lowered their heads, seemingly not daring to look at him.
"Damn it! I'm going to find her."
As Yuri spoke, he ran towards the outside of the guild.
"Where are you going?!"
Before Yuri could exit through the guild door...
Ian's arm had already clamped down on his shoulder. His hand was very heavy, like a hydraulic clamp, pressing Yuri firmly in place, not allowing him to move a muscle.
"Bastard..."
"I mean, senior!"
"Sorry, I misspoke earlier, but please let me go."
"I sincerely thank you for saving Rita..."
"But please let me go out and find Mavis!"
"Mavis has always been very smart. She must already know that she has been cursed by that damn god Ankhseram..."
"I think Mavis must be very desperate now. She must be blaming herself for Rita's fainting."
"I have to tell her that Rita's matter has nothing to do with her. She doesn't need to take any responsibility for it! No matter what kind of love it is, it is not a sin in itself..."
Yuri's face was pale, and he begged Ian to let him go.
"You will die."
Ian looked at Yuri and said in a deep voice.
"I know..."
Yuri looked at Ian calmly. There was no fear of death in his eyes. He had once betrayed Mavis and used her...
But that was all in the past. Even though he was so despicable, Mavis still forgave the bastard that he was. Therefore, he had sworn to Mavis...
From now on, no matter what happened, he would stand firmly by Mavis's side, because they were family, they were comrades, they were the closest people in the world.
"Think about your wife and your newborn child."
"Do you want the first thing Rita faces when she wakes up to be her husband's funeral?!"
Ian still held onto Yuri, not intending to let go, and spoke in a deep voice.
"This..."
Yuri was silent upon hearing this. Indeed, it would be too cruel and too selfish for Rita and Makarov.
"That's right!"
"I say, Yuri, since you're already married and have a child, you should stay in the guild and take good care of Mavis's mage guild."
"As for finding Mavis, leave it to the two of us..."
Just as Yuri was hesitating...
Precht and Warrod suddenly showed relaxed smiles. They came to Yuri's sides, patted Yuri's shoulder lightly, and said with a smile as if saying goodbye to an old friend, "We'll leave this place to you. Don't let Mavis down! You must make the Fairy Tail guild the number one in the Kingdom of Fiore, and even in the entire continent of Ishgar."
"You two..."
Yuri knew that once Precht and Warrod went to find Mavis, they probably wouldn't come back. For a moment, his eyes became moist.
"Oh dear..."
"Are you guys deaf?!"
"If you go find Mavis, you will all die..."
"Don't lose your minds just because this matter involves the First... I mean, that girl named Mavis."
"Calm down and think!"
"Guess why Mavis left the guild so urgently just now?"
"Because she doesn't want to hurt any of you..."
Ian was almost driven crazy by Yuri and the others. He had traveled through time to this point in time to save everyone, not to watch these fools run off to commit suicide.
"Senior! This is an internal matter of our Fairy Tail guild. Please let us go find Mavis!"
In response, Yuri and the other two said stubbornly.
"What if I refuse?"
Ian also had a temper. He looked at the three people in front of him and asked coldly.
"Then don't blame us for being rude!"
In response, Yuri, Precht, and Warrod exchanged glances and then looked at Ian and said in a deep voice.
"Interesting."
"I'd like to see how you're going to be rude."
Ian was also amused by Yuri and the others...
These three half-baked fools, who had only been practicing magic for about ten years at most, actually said they would be rude to him?!
If these three fools' magic could actually hit him, then he would have wasted decades of hard work in the simulator's timeline.
"Let's do it together!"
In response, Yuri, Precht, and the others reached an agreement.
Although Ian's strength was unfathomable, as long as the three of them joined forces and worked together, Ian would probably have no way to deal with them.
"Fall!"
Seeing this, Ian sighed helplessly and activated his gravity magic.
"Boom!!"
With a loud bang...
Yuri, Precht, and Warrod were pressed to the floor of the Fairy Tail guild by the gravity released by Ian. No matter how hard they struggled, they couldn't move a muscle.
"Senior, please stop! We were wrong!"
At this point, Yuri and the others impulsively acted for a moment.
---
Hey folks,
Guess who's back?! It's me! First off, HUGE apologies for my sudden disappearance. Seriously, life decided to throw a whole lot at me all at once, and I kinda just went off-grid for a while. My bad for leaving the story on such a cliffhanger, too!
Anyway, I'm finally getting things back on track and I'm ready to start posting again. I've been thinking about you all and this story, seriously I know how it feels to having a story you are invested in dropped suddenly, my apologizes once again.
Just a heads up tho, I can't promise daily chapters yet since things are still somewhat busy. However, I'll do my best to update frequently as much as possible until everything settles down.