Chapter 121
"My true identity is one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory from the dark guild Grimoire Heart."
After surrendering to Marshall, Ultear finally began explaining her true background.
She made no attempt to conceal anything.
Her attitude carried the weary resignation of someone who had already given up resisting and no longer cared what happened next.
She had been the one who benefited from their agreement.
Yet somehow, Ultear still managed to look as though she had suffered the greatest injustice imaginable.
"The Balam Alliance?"
"Grimoire Heart is one of the most powerful dark guilds on the continent," Ultear explained. "Our master is a legendary dark Mage."
"The enormous bounties on our heads exist mostly to strengthen our prestige in the underworld. Our true mission is to revive Zeref."
"Oh?"
Marshall leaned back thoughtfully.
"Revive Zeref?"
Marshall possessed high-level authority within Super Archive—roughly equivalent to Level Four access.
That authority even gave him some limited influence over the activation of Etherion.
For example, if the Magic Council voted to launch Etherion, one holder of Level Four Super Archive authority would be selected to authorize the firing sequence.
However, if Marshall appeared and used his own equal authority to veto the launch, Etherion would be unable to fire unless another Level Four authority holder approved it again.
Etherion was effectively a nuclear weapon.
If it struck Magnolia, even Marshall would have no way to stop the destruction.
Several billion Edea of concentrated magic would erase everything in the impact zone.
Marshall could teleport away, but he wouldn’t be able to save more than a handful of people in time.
The more he considered it, the more disturbing it became.
Leaving a weapon like Etherion under the control of the fools in the Magic Council gave even Marshall a profound sense of insecurity.
Perhaps using up that stored magic would be better for everyone.
"What are you planning?"
Marshall looked at Ultear.
"How does the operation work?"
"We intend to manipulate the Magic Council into firing Etherion at the Tower of Heaven."
Ultear answered without hesitation.
"Excluding the chairman, there are nine councilors. We only need a majority vote to authorize the launch."
She spread her hands.
"Then—boom."
"If the Tower of Heaven is destroyed, the R-System will absorb the immense amount of high-purity magic released by Etherion."
"It requires at least 2.7 billion etherion to activate."
"With that power, Jellal believes he can revive Zeref."
Ultear’s eyes burned with lingering fervor.
"That truly is insane."
Marshall frowned.
"You’ve manipulated Jellal, the Balam Alliance, the Tower of Heaven, and even the Magic Council itself."
"This entire operation is the final piece of an enormous system."
"But Jellal’s plan cannot succeed," Ultear continued. "The R-System is a failed spell."
"Master Hades studied its original designs."
"Even if the system activates successfully, it can only resurrect a specific dead person. It cannot revive Zeref."
"Because Zeref isn’t dead."
Marshall stared at her.
"What do you mean?"
"Master Hades has met the legendary Black Mage."
Ultear’s voice became solemn.
"He learned magic from Zeref himself."
"Zeref has remained alive for more than four hundred years. He never died. His power was merely sealed away."
"What?!"
Marshall’s composure finally cracked.
If that information was true, then he needed to reevaluate everything he thought he knew about the infamous Black Mage.
Anyone capable of surviving for four centuries could not possibly be ordinary.
But if Zeref was truly that powerful, who had managed to seal him?
"Are you certain this information is reliable?"
"Completely."
Ultear’s answer was immediate.
"Master Hades said Zeref is sleeping somewhere in this world."
"He is the origin of everything Grimoire Heart seeks—and in a way, the origin of Fairy Tail as well."
"Our ultimate goal is to awaken him and create the Great Magic World."
"...?"
Marshall nearly jumped to his feet.
He had expected to uncover useful intelligence, but not a secret of this magnitude.
"Wait."
He stared at Ultear in disbelief.
"Are you telling me that your superior—the master of Grimoire Heart—is one of Fairy Tail’s former guild masters?"
"Yes."
Ultear nodded.
"Grimoire Heart exists to awaken Zeref and transform the world into the Great Magic World."
"What exactly does that mean?"
Marshall searched through what he remembered from Super Archive.
"I’ve encountered the concept before."
"A world where everyone can use magic, where spells are incomparably powerful, and where sufficiently powerful humans can supposedly ascend to godhood... something along those lines."
He looked at her incredulously.
"You actually believe that?"
"Even if such an age once existed, it would belong to the distant past."
"Does everyone in Grimoire Heart seriously want to drag civilization back into antiquity?"
Ultear shook her head.
"Creating the Great Magic World is our shared objective, but everyone has their own reason for pursuing it."
Hades might have grown old, but his ambition had never diminished.
He wanted to awaken the Zeref he truly worshiped and have him rise as the Demon King of the current era.
Hades would serve as the one who guided that awakening, earning supreme authority within the new magical world.
Ultear, meanwhile, wanted the ultimate magic that supposedly transcended time and space.
With it, she hoped to return to the past—to the point where her life had first gone wrong.
"Pfft—"
Marshall burst out laughing.
Ultear’s face reddened.
"W-What are you laughing at?!"
"You managed to say all of that with a straight face."
Marshall covered his mouth.
"How could I not laugh?"
"There’s nothing funny about it!"
Ultear bristled as though he had personally trampled on everything she had spent years pursuing.
"Master Hades is immensely powerful, yet even he chose to believe in Zeref."
"Zeref is the greatest Black Mage in history!"
"If he cannot lead us into the Great Magic World, then who can?"
"I think all of you are either fools or lunatics."
Marshall shook his head.
"You sound like a group of desperate people who lost every sense of direction, grabbed the first grand promise placed in front of them, and started charging ahead with your eyes closed."
"Who has proven that Zeref can create this Great Magic World?"
"If he’s truly all-powerful, how did he end up sealed?"
"And even if the Great Magic World becomes reality, what makes you think your half-developed Time Magic will suddenly let you return to the past?"
The entire idea was so absurd that Marshall hardly knew whether to be amused or frustrated.
Ultear’s confidence gradually faded.
"...Because... I was weak."
Her voice grew softer.
"That’s the only reason I chose this path."
"You..."
She had considered all of those doubts before.
Of course she had.
But she hadn’t known what else to do.
Hades was the most powerful Mage she knew, and until today, following him had seemed like the only possible route toward fulfilling her wish.
But if Marshall genuinely believed he could one day surpass even the legendary Zeref...
Ultear’s thoughts wavered.
Unfortunately, what came out of her mouth was a quiet, resentful complaint.
"Fine. You’re brilliant. You’re amazing."
"If you’re so powerful, then prove it to me."
"What kind of accomplishment is mocking someone else’s dream?"
Marshall’s eyebrow twitched.
"You’re getting rather bold again, aren’t you?"
"How dare you speak to me like that?"
He considered activating the heightened-sensitivity spell to teach her another lesson, then decided against it.
Knowing Ultear, she might somehow enjoy the attention and make the entire punishment pointless.
"Forget it."
Marshall waved dismissively.
"That’s enough for today."
"The information you’ve given me is much more explosive than I expected."
"I need time to think carefully about what comes next."