"O-okay!"
Erza (Happy) wore a terrified expression and could only helplessly follow along, closing his eyes as if ready to face judgment.
"Levy, you should leave too."
Mirajane (Marco) turned to look at Levy and spoke.
He needed to eliminate any potential risks.
Since Levy hadn't been affected by the "body-swapping magic," he had to make her leave to prevent her from getting involved. He could handle the rest himself.
"Alright, you must succeed, Marco!"
Levy obediently didn't waste any more time.
She had done all she could; the rest was up to fate.
"Mm, don't worry."
Mirajane (Marco) nodded and watched as Levy also ran out.
"Let's begin."
Seeing that Erza and Happy were both prepared, Mirajane (Marco) spoke without hesitation.
He was actually somewhat confident—at the very least, his and Levy's problem-solving approach was correct.
Even if it didn't work, it was unlikely to cause further harm.
A series of obscure, strangely syllabic, and tongue-twisting incantations clearly flowed from Mirajane (Marco)'s lips, just as when Natsu had chanted earlier.
At first, there was no reaction—only the echoes of the incantation seemed to reverberate through the empty hall.
"Bzzzt!"
But change occurred in an instant.
An invisible magical ripple with an odd rhythm suddenly surged forth, spreading like water waves and enveloping Erza and Happy.
"? It seems... we've changed back!"
Erza raised her hands and looked at her arms, her expression instantly brightening with joy.
She had successfully returned to normal.
"Aye! Finally back!"
Happy also cheered happily, flapping his wings and lightly taking flight, spinning excitedly in the air.
The feeling of freedom was truly wonderful.
"We succeeded!!!"
This scene filled the others with excitement.
If Erza and Happy had returned to normal, then they surely could too!
The heavy sense of oppression was torn open, and hope rekindled in everyone's hearts.
"You two, leave now as well."
Mirajane (Marco)'s expression relaxed slightly, and he immediately directed the overjoyed human and cat to leave quickly so as not to hinder the next steps.
Their time was limited.
"Okay!"
"Aye!"
Erza and Happy responded and promptly left.
Then, Natsu and Gray immediately stepped forward.
The two of them had been suffering immensely and were in urgent need of relief.
Lucy, Hisui, Juvia, and Cana didn't compete with them, as these two were indeed in a pitiable state—one tormented by burning flames, the other still spitting icicles from the cold.
As for Mirajane, of course, she would wait to go with Marco.
As the leader, Marco naturally bore the responsibility of ensuring everyone's safety, prioritizing his companions' rescue and resolving everyone's issues first.
Marco then began chanting the incantation again.
In fact, the spell he was reciting now was simply the original incantation spoken in reverse.
Ancient scripts often had limited characters and relatively simple expressions, so they couldn't be interpreted through conventional reasoning.
The phenomenon of reversing a line of ancient text to convey the opposite meaning existed in many ancient languages.
After completing their research, Marco and Levy roughly deciphered the meaning of these textual symbols and ultimately confirmed this solution.
It wasn't rash but supported by solid knowledge—an approach ordinary people wouldn't have conceived.
"Buzz!"
Natsu and Gray froze momentarily before their bodies immediately returned to normal.
Natsu took a sharp breath of scorching air, straightened his back, and no longer felt his stomach burning.
Gray exhaled a long stream of chilly air, closed his mouth, and stopped spewing ice pellets.
Looking at their familiar bodies, their eyes filled with wild joy.
"We're alive again!"
They shouted almost simultaneously, then glared at each other, their eyes now filled with mutual wariness.
'This guy actually endured that kind of pain!'
Both shared the same thought at that moment.
Switching bodies had been pure torture—like fire and ice clashing—yet it gave them deeper understanding of each other.
"Get lost already."
Mirajane (Marco) waved impatiently as if shooing flies.
At his words, the two rivals immediately began shoving each other while scurrying away.
Once outside, Natsu received another beating as Erza had been waiting outside, barely containing her anger until he emerged.
"Continue."
Listening to the screams outside, Mirajane (Marco) shook his head.
Speaking faster now, he raced against time to continue breaking the curse, swiftly restoring Hisui, Lucy, Juvia, and Cana to normal.
Finally, only he and Mirajane remained in the room.
"Good. We still have three minutes left. Seems we can make it~"
Marco (Mirajane) spoke up, tilting his head slightly with a gentle smile.
"Suddenly I don't want to switch back. What should we do?"
With the problem nearly resolved, Marco grew playful.
He joked while making an exaggerated funny face using Mirajane's delicate features, winking and grimacing dramatically.
"Are you sure? Then I'll have to use your face to seduce young girls."
Not to be outdone, Mirajane crossed her arms, raised an eyebrow and responded.
Knowing Marco was joking, she played along and teased him back.
"Oh? Are you planning to seduce this young girl then? Hearing you say that actually makes me a little excited~"
Marco immediately cupped his cheeks in a coy pose, using Mirajane's sweet voice to utter provocative words that made the real Mirajane lose her composure.
"Stop using someone else's body to say such things!"
Mirajane flushed with embarrassed anger.
The blush looked particularly striking on Marco's sharply defined face.
She raised her hand to hit Marco but instinctively softened the impact upon touching "her own" body—truly hitting herself.
"Alright, alright, enough joking."
Marco dropped the playful expression and turned serious.
His eyes grew focused as he stopped teasing Mirajane and began chanting the spell to end everything.
The next moment, magical energy enveloped them.
With a faint flash of light, their perspectives instantly swapped, returning them to their own bodies as familiar control rushed back.
"Phew~ Finally back to normal~" Mirajane let out a long, relieved sigh.
Subconsciously and naturally, she touched her chest, then her face flushed red instantly.
'That guy just now...'
Although it was her own hand that had made contact, the thought that the person inside had been Marco still brought a surge of embarrassment.
She quickly lowered her hand and coughed once to cover it up.
"Now that we've switched back, it's time to deal with this commission."
Back in his own body, Marco didn't pay attention to Mirajane's reaction.
He flexed his knuckles, producing soft cracking sounds, then picked up the mission request form.
His expression instantly darkened.
"Do you remember who issued this commission?"
Marco's voice lowered, carrying a chilling coldness.
His words dispelled the embarrassment in Mirajane's heart, and her expression immediately turned serious as she began carefully recalling the details of this commission.
This request form was hard to believe as a simple "commission"—it seemed more like a trap, one targeting their "Fairy Tail."
If mishandled, it could throw their "Fairy Tail" into complete chaos.
"I don't remember. Let's call Lisanna over to ask."
After thinking carefully, Mirajane furrowed her delicate brows and shook her head.
She didn't recall processing this strange commission herself.
"Alright. I believe no matter how careful they were, they couldn't have left absolutely no clues."
Marco nodded, pinching the pitch-black request form between his fingers as if trying to extract hidden information from it.
"Everyone, come back in."
Marco strode to the tightly shut guild door and pulled it open abruptly, calling back all those anxiously waiting outside for results.
Next, it was time to find a way to uncover the mastermind behind this.