The island's trees were incredibly dense—so dense it was downright annoying. You couldn't even see the road ahead, especially now that night had fallen.
This led to plenty of mistakes in navigation, with them sometimes circling around in the forest without realizing it.
Noel looked up at the violet moon hanging in the sky, feeling an inexplicable sense of discomfort.
He had read plenty of books on nature, but had never once come across anything mentioning the existence of a purple moon.
And their current situation was far from ideal. The forest was already dark to begin with, but shrouded beneath the night, it became even more gloomy and sinister.
The jungle at night was not a place one could traverse easily—there were bound to be wild beasts lurking about, and any sudden ambush would be hard to see coming.
Everywhere was a potential hazard. A good mage would avoid traveling at night if possible; the uncertainties of the darkness were simply too great.
The group continued their search, but they still hadn't found anything.
The moon had climbed directly above their heads now, its eerie beauty impossible to ignore. The others had also noticed its strange color.
"This is the first time I've ever seen a purple moon!" Lucy said, looking up at the sky.
"Same here… but it gives me a really bad feeling," Gray replied, a chill running down his spine as if something ominous was about to happen.
Just then, in the distance, they spotted the glow of a bonfire lighting up the road ahead.
"There's a campfire over there," Happy pointed out.
"Maybe it's the village! Let's go!" Natsu, who had been dragging his feet moments ago, suddenly lit up with energy.
From the very back of the group, he dashed to the front, sprinting toward the source of the light.
"Slow down! Watch your surroundings," Noel warned.
But his words fell on deaf ears—Natsu kept charging ahead at full speed. That was just his fiery personality.
The rest followed quickly behind. After what felt like quite some distance, they finally reached what looked like a village.
However, posted outside was a wooden sign that read No Entry.
"I'm gonna smash this door down," Natsu growled, already irritated from the long search only to be stopped here.
"Are you an idiot? We're here on a mission, not to go around smashing people's doors!" Lucy scolded him from the side.
Noel politely knocked on the gate. "Could you open up for us?"
There was no response. Natsu grew even more impatient. "Let me punch it open!"
"No, you idiot," Gray said, joining in on the scolding.
Two dark silhouettes appeared behind the gate's bars. Noel immediately tensed, unable to tell if they were friend or foe.
"Who are you people?" one of the shadows asked.
"We're mages from the Fairy Tail guild," Lucy quickly explained.
"We haven't received any report that this request was accepted," one of the figures said cautiously.
"Perhaps there was a delay in the notification," Noel explained.
"As soon as we got the request, we set out for here without stopping. Besides, not many people are willing to come to Galuna Island. Every boatman we met on the way refused to bring us here."
The figures still seemed unsure, unwilling to open the gate.
Finally, after the group showed their official guild documentation, the wooden gate creaked open.
It was, in truth, only a simple wooden barrier—if Natsu had smashed it, it wouldn't have been a big deal. But causing a scene in the village could easily earn them a summons from the Magic Council, and then they'd be in for a whole new mess.
Inside, things felt even stranger. Every villager wore a cloak, wrapped up so tightly that no skin was visible, as if hiding some deep secret.
"Welcome to our island. I'm Moka, the village chief," the man introduced himself. The group quickly took note—this was indeed the village leader.
"But please… take a look at this first."
The villagers all lifted their cloaks, revealing that parts of their bodies had transformed into something demonic.
Some had monstrous hands, others had claws for feet; a few had scales creeping up their faces, and some even bore horns on their heads.
The sight shocked the group—could this really be the work of a demon's curse? They couldn't help but wonder.
"Just like that old man on the boat…" Gray muttered.
"Whoa, those horns are huge," Natsu said, completely focused on the wrong detail.
Everyone stared at him in silence, even Noel feeling a bit awkward.
Trying to ease the tension, the village chief coughed twice before speaking. "Everything on this island has been cursed."
Noel, however, wasn't entirely convinced. It could just as well be a rare infectious disease.
Gray voiced a similar thought. "Could it be contagious?"
"We've already had doctors examine us. They found no signs of illness," Moka said evenly.
"What changed us into this… is tied to the magic of the moon."
He went on to explain some of Galuna Island's history, along with his belief that the moon was the cause.
"This is a curse…" Chief Moka said in an almost mystical tone.
"We want to hire you to destroy the moon."
The statement was so absurd it left even Noel stunned. Destroy the moon? That was far beyond reason—even the Ten Wizard Saints couldn't achieve such a feat.
Perhaps with Arc of Embodiment magic it might be possible—but if the moon were destroyed, wouldn't the entire world be thrown into chaos?
A shattered moon could rain down as meteors, striking the earth. Without the moon's gravitational pull, tides would vanish, and countless marine species would perish.
Suddenly, violet moonlight spilled over the villagers, and before their eyes, the group watched in horror as the transformations worsened—humans turning into demons straight out of legend.
"What's happening to them?" Lucy asked in alarm.
"Why are they changing like that?" Happy cried, clutching Natsu's leg in fear.
Thankfully, the villagers' transformations only affected their bodies—their minds and self-awareness remained intact, and they made no move to attack.
"Sorry to have frightened you," Moka apologized quickly.
"It's fine. We're mages—we're not afraid," Noel replied.
"We've had professional training. We don't scare easily," Gray added.
"That's so cool!" Natsu exclaimed dramatically from the side.
Everyone froze. That… might have been the most ridiculous thing he'd said yet.
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