Chapter 102

"Let's go."

At the same time, in the clouds of the sky not far from the Tower of Heaven.

Hades stood at the very front of the magic airship's deck, watching the Xuanwozhang Sect and Konan as they took Jellal and left through another dimension. His eyes narrowed slightly as he said, "There's no longer any point in staying."

"All that effort for nothing?"

Ultear, upon hearing Hades's words, said with a faint smile, "Lord Hades, would you like to try again?"

"There's no need."

"It was merely a tentative attempt in the first place."

Upon hearing Ultear's words, Hades replied flatly, "Let's focus on tracking down Zeref's whereabouts instead."

Saying so, Hades turned and left without waiting for Ultear beside him to say anything.

Zeref had never died, and the R-System could only resurrect those who had already passed.

Then, once the R-System truly activated, just who would be resurrected?

The answer, perhaps, no one would ever know, but barring any accidents, the target of the resurrection would definitely not be Zeref — it would most likely be that person Hades cared about.

However, had that person Hades cared about truly died?

Walking quietly through the ship's cabin, a light Hades had never shown before flickered in his eyes. From start to finish, Hades had never once intervened in the battle taking place below at the Tower of Heaven.

"Lord Hades seems to be in a very bad mood."

Ultear gazed at Hades's retreating back with a slight smile, then took one last look at the Tower of Heaven below. Without saying anything either, she returned to the cabin.

And so, the magic airship belonging to Grimoire Heart quietly departed the vicinity of the Tower of Heaven with virtually no one the wiser.

After the magic airship had left, Aizen Sousuke cast a thoughtful glance in the direction it had departed.

In fact, Aizen Sousuke had already detected Grimoire Heart just moments ago.

"You must be mages from the Fairy Tail guild."

Aizen Sousuke looked at Erza and the others present and said with a smile, "So, what do you all plan to do next?"

"And Miss Lucy, you promised to treat me to a meal next time we met — you can't go back on your word."

"Oh right, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Aizen Sousuke, and I am a Shinigami."

As he spoke, Aizen Sousuke gave Erza, Lucy, and the others a perfectly standard smile.

"Wow, you're a Shinigami?!"

"That sounds really amazing!"

Before Erza and Lucy could say anything, Natsu immediately rushed over with an excited look on his face and said impatiently, "Let's have a fight and see who's stronger!"

As he spoke, Natsu was about to make a move against Aizen Sousuke.

Even though he had just witnessed Aizen Sousuke's terrifying power, Natsu simply couldn't learn his lesson.

Or rather, that was just the kind of person Natsu was — upon seeing someone powerful, he couldn't help but want to step up and test himself.

However, in the very next instant, Natsu was decisively punched to the ground by Erza and knocked out cold.

Roughhousing with his own people was one thing, but picking a fight with someone like Aizen Sousuke, whom he'd barely met a handful of times, was simply asking for death.

"Mr. Aizen Sousuke, please don't mind Natsu here."

"Normally, Natsu has always had this hot-headed personality."

After punching Natsu to the ground, Erza looked at Aizen Sousuke with an extremely ladylike smile and said, "Oh, Mr. Aizen Sousuke, you said you're a Shinigami?"

For some reason, a somewhat sharp-featured face surfaced in Erza's mind.

It was the guild master of the Dark Mage guild Eisenwald, Erigor — a mage whose strength had reached S-Class. Because he frequently took on assassination-type mission requests and maintained a very high success rate, he had earned the title of Shinigami.

He had given Erza quite a bit of trouble before, so she remembered him well.

【Author's Note on Premium Release】

The book was posted on January 22nd, and now it's February 7th — the time for the premium release has finally arrived.

It goes live at midnight tonight. When the time comes, I'll be on my knees begging all you esteemed readers for your subscription support~.