"Is this for real?" Kazu couldn't hide his shock.
He turned a page on the report spread before him. It was stamped with the Magic Council's seal, edges blackened from some explosion. Kazu's eyes skimmed the lines—words like obliteration and casualties repeating too many times.
"A chain of islands," Makarov said. "Gone in an hour. They're calling it an unsealed demon—Halphas. Book of Zeref."
Kazu's expression didn't shift. "Who unsealed it?"
"Someone who thought they could control it. Dead now, if that helps your sense of justice."
"It doesn't." Kazu folded his arms. "You're sending me?"
"You're the only one left who can stall it. Gildarts is still out. Laxus is at some random mountain at the edge of Fiore. If the thing reaches the mainland, there would be significant casualties."
There was a pause. Long enough for the air to hum with tension.
Kazu finally asked, "What's the exact mission goal?"
"Delay it," Makarov said. "If you can't, you evacuate survivors. Reinforcements will come once the Council stops arguing whose jurisdiction it is."
"Stall a demon from Zeref's collection. Alone?"
"Not alone." Makarov looked up. "You'll take Cana and Mira."
Kazu blinked. "I can understand Mira, but why Cana? Isn't this too dangerous?" 'It's a demon, so if Mira could take over it, her power would increase drastically.'
"I have a hunch that she might surprise you. Anyway, prioritise the group's safety over anything else."
Kazu sighed through his teeth. "So, worst-case scenario, I die dramatically, buying time while they escape."
"That's the spirit," Makarov said, deadpan. Then, quieter, "You've grown enough to know how not to waste your life. Remember that."
Kazu nodded once, clipped and efficient. "We leave in ten."
"Five. We don't have time. Take whatever artefacts you can." Makarov corrected.
Kazu turned toward the door, but Makarov's voice stopped him.
"Kazu."
He glanced back.
"I don't have to tell you this, but… if it turns out you can't win, you run. You've carried enough ghosts already."
Kazu's reply was dry. "I'll tell them you said that. They won't believe me."
He left before Makarov could answer.
By the time he reached the courtyard, the evening sky had deepened into purple.
Cana was already waiting, sitting under a tree—half-cross-legged, half-sprawled—with a flask in one hand. Mira stood beside her, hair tied in a pony as she adjusted her cloak.
Cana waved the flask when she saw him. "Mission time already? I thought you would take till morning in the treasury."
Kazu rolled his eyes. "We don't have time for this." A barrier appeared below three of them.
Kazu tapped his foot. The barrier flared brighter, lifting them into the air with a low hum. The guild shrank beneath them, turning into a patchwork of roofs and light.
The wind hit their faces. Mira steadied herself on Kazu's shoulder out of reflex, then instantly pulled back, cheeks faintly pink.
"Sorry."
Kazu's voice stayed even. "Better than falling."
Cana snorted. "Smooth."
He didn't reply, which somehow made her grin wider.
Cana stumbled slightly due to the drunkenness.
"Don't vomit," Mira warned Cana with a disgusted expression.
"I will try."
'Lock.'
Kazu locked all three of their bodies with barriers to prevent them from falling. The barrier beneath them started moving at a very high speed.
Seeing Kazu's grim expression, Mira finally opened her mouth. "What's the mission exactly?"
Kazu stopped beside the barrier platform and looked at both of them. "We're heading to the western island chain. A Book-of-Zeref demon called Halphas was unsealed. The Council's still busy arguing over who will deal with it, so we're the first response. Goal is to stall."
"Stall? Can't we beat it? Aren't you S-rank Kazu?" Cana took another swig of alcohol from her flask.
Kazu snatched the bottle from her. "I am not strong enough to deal with her. Also, I think you shouldn't drink this. We might die."
"Give it back." Cana broke the barrier in front of her arm as she flared her arms at Kazu.
Kazu frowned. "Right. I forgot to mention, but that demon obliterated a few islands already."
Cana paused. She blinked before looking at Kazu with a look full of disbelief.
Mira wasn't any different. For a moment, she couldn't breathe at all.
"I—islands? Why are we going on this mission? Isn't this suicide? I might die. I need to drink one last time." Cana stretched her out towards the alcohol battle.
Kazu was too shocked by her response, causing her to reclaim the bottle.
"What type of alcoholic have you become?" Kazu shook his head in disbelief.
"Should you even be drinking before facing a great foe?" Mira asked.
Cana grinned. "It's called courage in liquid form. Moreover, Kazu would be doing most of the work. I am here to cheer him."
Kazu rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything.
A few minutes passed in silence—the kind filled with the sound of wind and the faint ripple of barrier energy. Cana stretched, the flask dangling loosely in her hand.
"So," she said, "since we might die and all, wanna do something fun?"
Kazu side-eyed her. "You always need an excuse to mess around, don't you?"
"Don't know what you are talking about." She shuffled closer to Mira. "Okay, fortune time! I'll predict your love fortune."
Mira blinked. "Love life? We're going to fight a demon."
"Exactly. Perfect timing." Cana fished out a small deck of cards from her pouch. "One reading before probable obliteration."
Kazu looked unimpressed. "I'll pass. It would be better if I didn't know anything." 'I already saw my future version with a ring. Knowing more would just be pointless. I am just 13. Maybe in the future.'
"Oh... But, I have already predicted yours." Cana showed him the back side of a few cards.
Kazu groaned. "If you had already predicted it, then why bother even asking us?"
Mira giggled. "All right, I'll go first."
Cana shuffled the cards theatrically, eyes half-lidded from the wine. "Okay, Miss Mirajane Strauss… love fortune says… heartbreak incoming. You are going to face a pretty big heartbreak."
"Eh?" Mira froze.
"Don't look at me," Cana said, turning over another card. "The deck never lies."
Kazu's eyebrow twitched. "That's encouraging for the first one."
"Shush, you're next." Cana turned toward him with an almost sinister smile. "Let's see how the annoying Kazu fares in romance."
"I'd rather face Halphas."
"Too bad." She flicked two cards out and squinted at them. "Oho. That's interesting."
"Define interesting," Kazu said.
"It says… you'll be fine. Actually, more than fine." Cana leaned back smugly. "Your future looks… spicy."
Mira looked between them, wide-eyed. "Spicy?"
"Yep. Either a pretty interesting love life or a tragic allergic reaction. Hard to say."
Kazu gave her a flat look. "Very scientific."
"You're welcome."
'Spicy... She's getting my hopes up a bit too much.' The memory of adult Kazu showing his ring came up in his mind, causing Kazu to blush.
"Wait, are you blushing? Oh my god. I need a camera." Cana made a 'Pikachu-face' at him.
"I am not. Anyway, what about your fortune?" He looked right in her eye.
Cana paused mid-shuffle. "Mine?"
"Yeah. Since you're handing out futures like candy."
Her grin faltered for a second, replaced by something more neutral. "Maybe later," she said, tone deliberately casual. "I don't like spoilers."
Kazu didn't press. Mira opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when Cana abruptly pointed ahead.
"Hey, are those clouds—or smoke?"
The laughter faded. The air ahead was thick with a grey haze. As they descended, the sea below turned black—ash and debris floating in slow spirals. The islands ahead weren't islands anymore. Just fragments of rock jutting out of a boiling sea.
Cana's flask hung forgotten in her hand. Mira's face went pale.
Kazu didn't speak. He adjusted the barrier's course and dropped it lower, skimming the surface of what used to be a coastline. Charred trees leaned at impossible angles, and shadows of buildings melted into the ground. Even the air felt wrong—heavy, charged with leftover ethernano.
Mira finally whispered, "How… how many people—"
"Too many," Kazu said quietly. His gaze swept the horizon. "And whatever did this is still nearby."
The barrier settled on a cracked pier, dissolving into light beneath their feet. For a long moment, no one moved.
Kazu crouched, touching the ground. The faint glow of blue ethernano spread outward, mapping the terrain in shifting lines.
"Residual magic," he muttered. "Dense, volatile. Pattern's unstable."
"So, she was the one who did it. She was here," Mira said softly.
"Or still is," Kazu replied. He stood and looked at both of them. "No heroics. If I say run, you run. That's not a debate."
Cana's usual smirk was gone. She nodded. "Got it."
Mira followed, jaw tight. "Understood."
The wind shifted, carrying a distant rumble from deeper inland—a sound too slow and too heavy to be thunder.
Kazu turned toward it, the colour draining from his eyes as his instincts kicked in. The world sharpened to monochrome lines and motion. He exhaled once.
"Found it."
"Already?" Cana asked.
"Hard to miss." He looked back over his shoulder, voice steady. "Let's move."
They followed him across the broken pier, their footsteps echoing against the dead silence of the shore. Behind them, the sea hissed against molten stone. Ahead, the sky darkened—slow, deliberate, like something enormous was breathing beneath it.
Mira's fingers brushed the edge of her cloak. Cana slipped her cards back into the pouch, expression unreadable.
***
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***