"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"Ahhh! No way! You've gotta be kidding me!"
Natsu slammed both fists furiously on the arcade machine's console.
He'd just watched the number 17 flash across the screen — victory, or so he thought. But in the next instant, it vanished. The joy and excitement that had rushed through him evaporated like smoke.
"This can't be right! It hit seventeen! I saw it!"
"Sir, please calm down—" the attendant stammered nervously, frozen by the sight of Natsu's teary, furious outburst.
"Give me back my number seventeen!" Natsu howled.
Happy joined in, wailing dramatically beside him, clutching his tiny paws as if his heart had been broken. The two of them threw such a childish tantrum that the poor staff member stood there speechless, half-terrified, half-defeated.
"Honestly… I can't deal with that idiot," Gray muttered from across the room. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, idly swirling a drink in his hand.
But to Juvia, that quiet sigh and the faraway look in Gray's eyes were… breathtaking.
"Ahh… Gray-sama, that melancholy look of yours… so mysterious, so handsome," she whispered, clasping her hands together dreamily.
Gray froze mid-sip, feeling an odd chill behind him.
"Hey, Juvia," he said after a pause. "How about we, uh… go look around outside? Maybe buy some souvenirs?"
"Yes! Juvia would love to go with Gray-sama!" she chirped, sparkling with excitement.
As the two walked out together, neither noticed a tall, broad-shouldered man in a mask quietly following a few paces behind them.
Back inside, Natsu's protest was abruptly cut short by a deep, crisp voice.
"Have you finished your little tantrum, boy?"
The speaker's tone was oddly formal — and his body was just as strange: square jaw, square shoulders, square everything. Even his head looked unnaturally angular.
"In a gentleman's playground," the man continued pompously, "one should behave with grace and class!"
Natsu and Happy both turned slowly, blinking.
"Whoa! He's… square!" they shouted in unison.
Meanwhile, Erza and Lucy were faring far better. Luck was on their side tonight — every hand they played was a clean victory.
"Erza, you got a royal flush again!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Seems fortune favors me tonight," Erza replied with a small, satisfied smile.
But just as they were celebrating, the dealer at the table was quietly replaced.
The new dealer sat down without a word — his face hidden in the shadows. His cold eyes fixed on Erza.
It had been years since she'd seen that face.
At the same moment, elsewhere in the resort's long marble corridor—
Kael and Cana came face to face with a familiar, unwelcome figure.
"Jellal," Kael said, his tone sharp. "I didn't expect you to show up in person."
"Well," Jellal replied calmly, "I couldn't think of anyone else capable of holding you off."
The air between the two Ten Wizard Saints trembled with tension.
Cana clenched her fists beside Kael, watching the blue-haired mage warily.
"Hold me off?" Kael's eyes narrowed. "You and I may both be fighting with limited strength right now, but what makes you think you can stop me?"
Light flared in his palm — a sword of pure, radiant energy materialized in an instant, aimed directly at Jellal's chest.
But Jellal didn't even flinch. His expression stayed maddeningly calm, as though he knew Kael wouldn't strike.
"Don't sound so hurtful, Kael," Jellal said softly. "You might not realize it yet… but this entire amusement town? Every single person here — can hold you back."
"What?" Cana gasped.
Kael's eyes widened — then instantly shifted. He closed his eyes, extending his Observation Haki-like perception outward, sweeping across the entire resort.
And then he felt it.
Dozens of concentrated magic points — all over the town.
Bombs.
"Jellal…" Kael growled. "You've really lost your humanity."
He lowered his blade, but the air around him pulsed with violent energy. The floor, the walls, the entire hallway trembled under the weight of his power.
"You'd drag innocent lives into this?"
Jellal spread his hands casually, as if to say he had no choice. "Your strength leaves me few options, Kael. I had to level the field somehow."
Kael's eyes burned with fury. "You think your R-System will succeed? Etherion's activation was denied by the Council. Where do you plan to get the power to complete it?"
"That's none of your concern," Jellal replied coldly. "For now, what matters is that your movements are limited. Which means my goal is achieved."
Kael chuckled — low and dangerous.
"You know, you're right. I couldn't attack you while innocent people were at risk."
Then his tone shifted. "But tell me, Jellal — did you ever stop to wonder why I've been so cooperative with your little scheme?"
Before Jellal could respond, beams of golden light erupted across the town outside. One after another, explosions shook the sky.
Jellal's eyes widened. "What—?!"
"You think I wouldn't find and neutralize your bombs beforehand?" Kael smirked.
"Damn you!" Jellal snarled, his body glowing with golden magic. He blasted through the nearest window, vanishing into the distance toward the island.
"Kael… you're just going to let him go?" Cana asked, frowning.
Kael's gaze remained fixed on the night sky. "Don't worry. He's not ready to make his move yet. For now, we focus on what matters—"
He turned sharply toward her. "—stopping Erza from being taken."
Cana nodded, and before she could blink, a glowing circle formed beneath their feet.
In the next instant, both of them vanished in a flash of light.
Moments Earlier — Erza and Lucy
"I feel unbeatable tonight," Erza laughed. "No opponent can touch us."
"Right? Even the sky looks like it's celebrating!" Lucy said, glancing at the fireworks bursting above.
But then the new dealer — the one with the cold eyes — spoke quietly.
"In that case… how about a special game? A match worth betting your life, Erza."
Cards hit the table one by one, spelling out a chilling word — DEATH.
Erza froze.
That voice… she knew it.
"You…" she whispered. "Sho? You're alive?"
"Long time no see, big sister," the boy said, his tone strangely calm.
"Erza, you… you have a brother?" Lucy gasped — but before either could say more, darkness swallowed the room whole.
When the lights returned, everyone else was gone.
"What happened?! Where did everyone go? And that sound—was that a gunshot?!" Lucy shouted, spinning around.
"Sho?" Erza called out, her heart racing.
Then—
"He's here!"
Kael's voice rang out from the doorway.
He and Cana appeared, hovering behind them — and between them, suspended in midair, were Sho and Millianna, both bound and struggling.
"Let me go! Who the hell are you?!" Sho roared, thrashing against invisible restraints.
"Meow! Put me down!" Millianna yowled.
Kael didn't even glance at them. "Erza, Lucy — are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah," Lucy stammered. "But what's going on? Who are these people?"
Kael's expression hardened. "You'll understand soon enough. But we need everyone here first before I explain."
At his words, Erza flinched. Her arms folded across her chest as if to shield herself, her gaze trembling as she looked at Sho and Millianna.
The past she'd tried so hard to bury… was standing before her again.