Chapter 42: A Very Sincere Offer
He appeared with intimidating presence, then fled like lightning. This sudden shift shocked everyone on Sherria's side.
"Angelica!"
Lucy held up a hand. "Stop yelling! If that oversized rat comes back, it might actually throw itself off a cliff!"
"It was you! You're the one who traumatized Angelica earlier today. I'll make you pay for what you did to her!"
Lucy sweatdropped. "Uh… it's not actually dead, you know."
"Hah!" Natsu cracked his knuckles, flames wrapping around his fists. "Dino, you've already taken down enough guys. Gray nabbed the big boss too. Leave these ones to me!" He charged straight at Yuka and Toby.
"Wait a minute, you idiot!" Yuka's face paled.
"BOOM!" Natsu's fist slammed into the ground. The earth shattered instantly, a massive crater opening up as Natsu and his opponent tumbled down together.
Lucy rushed forward. "Natsu!" She ran to check on him.
But after only a few steps, the fractured ground began reversing itself—as if time itself was rewinding. In the blink of an eye, it returned to its pristine state, completely undamaged.
Lucy and Happy's jaws dropped. "It… recovered? How is that even possible?!"
Ultear covered her mouth with an elegant laugh. "Ohohoho~! Forgive the display. This is Lost Magic—the Arc of Time. I wonder if it meets Lord Dino's standards?"
Happy blinked. "Lost Magic? That's totally different from Natsu's magic!"
"My magic allows me to restore any object to its state before it was damaged. No matter how severe the destruction, even if this entire island were reduced to rubble, I could repair it instantly."
Happy's eyes went wide. "Controlling time sounds crazy powerful!"
Suddenly, Dino looked at Ultear with complete seriousness. "Would you… consider joining my team?"
"…" An awkward silence fell over the battlefield. Lucy, Happy, and even Ultear stood frozen. They were in the middle of a fight, and he was trying to recruit an enemy?
"Ohohoho~! Surely Lord Dino is joking."
Dino waved his hands earnestly. "No, no, I'm completely serious. And when you think about it, we'd make a perfect team. Look—my magic always causes massive collateral damage, right? Every time I use my powers, something gets destroyed. If I go all out, this whole island could easily be reduced to nothing."
"Every insurance company in Fiore has blacklisted me. Half the time, the reward money from my missions doesn't even cover the repair costs."
"But if we teamed up? I destroy, you repair—we'd save a fortune! I'm thinking a 70-30 split on mission rewards. Seventy for me, thirty for you. If you're not satisfied with that arrangement, we can negotiate. I'm being completely sincere here."
Lucy and Happy stared at him, dumbfounded. Of all the things to be thinking about during a battle, this was occupying his mind? And he'd thought it through in such detail! Was this what happened when you actually used your brain?
Ultear's eye twitched. A vein pulsed on her forehead. The Lost Magic she'd suffered and trained so hard to master—reduced to cleanup duty for his messes? The nerve!
"Ohohoho~! Lord Dino seems to be severely underestimating my Lost Magic!"
Dino spread his hands reasonably. "How could I? It's magic that controls time. That sounds incredibly sophisticated and high-level. However, I genuinely believe my proposal would maximize the practical value of your abilities."
"You want to see the true value of this magic? Then experience it firsthand!"
"Wha—!" The ground beneath Dino and Ultear suddenly carved itself into a perfect circle, as if sliced by an invisible blade. Both of them plummeted through the opening.
Lucy leaned over the edge. "Dino!"
"Hmph! You should worry about yourself!" Sherria glared at Lucy with gritted teeth. "You're so hideous you scared Angelica away! You're standing between me and my love for Master Zero! I'll teach you exactly how painful 'love' can be!"
Lucy pointed at herself in disbelief. "Why me?! I didn't do anything! And I'm definitely not hideous—I'm way cuter than you!" When it came to appearances, Lucy would never back down.
"Shut up, you brainless bimbo! Rock Doll!" Sherria thrust her hands forward. Rocks from the ground began gathering rapidly, forming themselves into a towering rock giant.
Gray called out urgently. "Happy! Grab Lucy and get out of here! At least leave the ruins! If Dino cuts loose with his powers, this whole place could collapse at any second!"
Lucy finally understood—if she stayed here, she'd only get in the way of the real fight.
She pointed defiantly at Sherria. "I'm a Fairy Tail mage too, you know! I can fight! If you've got the guts, come and catch me!"
Happy snatched Lucy up and took flight. Sherria glared after them furiously. "I won't let you escape! I'll make sure you experience the pain of 'love'!"
After tumbling through multiple floors, Dino and Ultear finally crashed to a stop at the lowest level—the same chamber where everyone had rested earlier. Deliora, encased in ice, loomed nearby. The purple moonlight streaming through cracks in the ceiling seemed to be slowly melting even that supposedly eternal ice.
"Back where we started!"
Ultear brushed dust from her dress. "Well? My magic doesn't just restore objects to their previous state. I can also accelerate time, aging things rapidly to inflict damage."
Dino's eyes lit up with interest. "Oh? Does that mean you can restore youth to people too?"
"…For a few seconds, perhaps."
"Tch. And here I thought you could actually make people young again permanently. That would've been valuable."
A vein pulsed on Ultear's temple. "Lord Dino, you don't seem to grasp the situation you're in."
"You're known as Fairy Tail's strongest mage, true. But we're underground now. If you recklessly cause an earthquake, you'll bury yourself alive along with everything else."
"Down here, I can use my full power. It's entirely possible that I could defeat even you in this location."
Dino paused for a moment, then burst out laughing.
Ultear's face flushed with anger. "What's so funny?!"
Dino grinned widely, his expression dangerous. "Nothing much. I'm just laughing because you're the one who doesn't seem to understand the situation!"