144. Destroying The Moon
After defeating Deliora, Ben rest for a moment to eat & drink a little. Then he dispels the barrier dome and leaves the location. He feels bad for destroying the natives' temple, so he goes to the village.
"Damn, how should I talk to them about this? Should I repay them with money? What if they want me to build a new temple? Ugh, maybe I should just run away," ponders Ben while walking.
On the way to the village, Ben encounters Gray who has defeated Lyon. He doesn't know what to say so he just walks past Gray, but the Ice Mage calls him.
"Hey, what about Deliora?" asks Gray.
"Dead," replies Ben shortly.
Gray has a conflicted expression hearing that. On one side, he is happy that the demon who destroyed his home is dead. But on another side, he is not happy that someone can kill Deliora while his teacher couldn't.
"How's his strength?" asks Gray.
"Not as strong as what was told in the story. It must be because he has been imprisoned in that Iced Shell for 10 years. I won't even be surprised if he died right after being released. But his life force is strong enough to make him survive that. He is called immortal for a reason," says Ben.
"Is that so? That means the Iced Shell has contributed a lot, right?" asks Gray while looking at the sky.
"It is, so be proud of your teacher. But don't do the same thing as her. She won't like it even for a bit. She didn't teach Magic to you just so you can die like her, she taught it to you so you can survive in this dangerous world."
"Tell your fellow disciple that if he wants to surpass her, then he needs to live longer than her. Being too arrogant like this just means that he is still far from her level. A Mage's quality isn't just seen from their strength, there are many factors in it," says Ben while looking at Lyon.
"What factors?" asks Lyon weakly as he lays weakly too.
"That's for you to find out," says Ben as he walks away.
Gray & Lyon get silent and look at the destroyed temple while Ben keeps walking to the village.
'Dayum~, that's too cool. I never thought I would say something deep like that. This can be addicting,' thinks Ben, praising himself.
[You are just saying nonsense to stop them from talking to you any longer.]
'Yeah, but I still said cool things,' protests Ben.
[Whatever.]
After walking for some minutes, Ben finally reaches the village. Erza is stopping him in front of the gate like a guard.
"Are you the Devil Slayer who fought Deliora? Have you defeated him?" asks Erza with a strict tone & pose.
"Yeah and yeah. Now move. I want to talk with the villagers," says Ben nonchalantly.
"Let me ask you one more thing. Who are you? And what's your motive?" asks Erza.
"That's 2 questions, not one," says Ben.
"Just answer," says Erza while pointing her sword at Ben.
"Let me tell you something. You need to ask someone that you don't know with a politer tone. You also shouldn't point your sword at others, they will get offended. And if they get offended, they can get angry and attack you like this," says Ben as he teleports right in front of Erza and grabs her face.
Erza gets surprised and wants to attack Ben with her sword. But then she pauses when Ben releases his Devil Slayer power and points it at her. She sees an image of a very menacing demon behind Ben that makes her tremble and drops her sword.
Ben thinks it's enough and he releases the Titania then walks to the village. Erza drops on her knees and breathes frantically. She never felt such an ominous power before. It's not an evil power, but it is very scary and strong.
Happy & Lucy who are in the village too and hide behind a pillar get scared, so they hide again. Ben just sighs, but he doesn't care too much about it. He does that to Erza because she needs to learn that she can't act like that to anyone or she might put herself & her friends in danger.
Ben finally meets with the villagers who are gathering in the plaza. The villagers have turned into demons as it is night already and the moon has appeared. They have various shapes & colors in their demon forms.
"Who's the village chief?" asks Ben.
"Me," says a purple old man.
"Well, first of all, I want to apologize. Your temple has been destroyed in my battle with a strong Demon from Book of Zeref, an Etherious," says Ben.
The villagers murmur after hearing that and Ben scratches his head because he can hear them clearly with his strong hearing sense. They are wondering what will happen after the temple gets destroyed and about Deliora.
"Is that demon the reason for this curse?" asks the village chief while looking at his demonic hand.
"In a way, yes. Some people want to do something to that demon and they used a ritual. That ritual is the one that caused this strange thing. It is called Moon Drip ritual, but this kind of side effect is something that I've never heard of," says Ben.
"But can you release this curse from us? If you do that, then we will forget about what happened with the temple," says the Chief.
"Really?! Alright, leave it to me," says Ben happily in relief.
Ben then looks up at the purple moon and raises his right hand toward it.
"WAIT!" shouts Natsu while running from the village gate.
Ben stops and looks at the pink-hair confusedly, "What do you want?"
"You said it yourself that this is our job, so we will do it," says Natsu.
"Well, sorry, but I need to do this so they'll forgive me for destroying their temple," says Ben.
"But we need to finish this job so we can prove that we're qualified to take S-Class jobs," says Natsu.
"Then be an S-Class mage. Being childish like this just makes you unqualified to be one," says Ben.
"WHAT'D YOU SAY? I'LL SHOW YOU THAT I'M QUALIFIED. FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!" shouts Natsu as he sends a fire fist toward Ben with his right hand.
Ben looks at it and then he just grabs Natsu's fire fist like nothing. The fire from Natsu's magic burns his hand, but he doesn't feel anything.
'So his fire doesn't affect me at all. Is it because he is just fire while I'm sun? Hmm, I wonder if my Sun Dragon Slayer's fire element will affect him,' ponders Ben.
"DAMN! NOT YET," shouts Natsu as he uses the same attack with his left hand.
Ben just sighs and sends a kick at Natsu's stomach. He sends Natsu flying to the village gate just with a kick. Erza & Gray who stand there catch Natsu to stop him.
"Just stay there and let the professional do the job. Look and learn, kids," says Ben as he raises his right hand to the sky again.
A reddish-golden magic circle appears on his right hand. Then a volleyball-sized reddish-golden solar ball appears on top of it.
"Sun Devil's Bomb: Super Mini Supernova!" says Ben as he shoots the ball to the sky.
The reddish-golden solar ball flies to the sky very fast. Everyone looks at it flying to the moon and looks like it will keep flying. But it suddenly stops as if it hits a wall in the sky.
*BOOM*
Suddenly the solar ball explodes in the sky and makes the island bright for a moment. Everyone closes their eyes for a moment too and then they open their eyes. They all look at the sky and get stunned to see it cracking and then shatter like glass.
"That layer is created by the Moon Drip ritual. It created a purple layer on the sky, that's why the moon become purple," says Ben as the purple layer shattered and the real moon appeared.
The villagers are excited to see it and they look at their bodies. They hope that they'll turn into a normal human again, but they aren't. They are still in their demon form even after the moon becomes normal.
"W-What happens? Does the curse still affect them?" asks Lucy worriedly.
"No, it's not, right, everyone?" asks Ben to the villagers.
"Yes, now I remember everything. We have never been humans, we are demons from the beginning," says the Chief happily.
"Eh?" says the Fairy Tail Mages in surprise.
The villagers are happy now and then they all fly to the sky with a new sense of freedom. The Fairy Tail Mages except Erza are very confused. Just what happened here?
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