Chapter 650: Stuck on the Edge of Death! The Ice-Make Mage Ultear

As the administrator’s eyes watched, the crimson hue intensified, even replacing the original iris color, and the three-tomoe Sharingan pattern became visibly clearer.

At the same time, Luo Fu grew weak, drenched in sweat.

In such a short time, Luo Fu had barely managed to use the shared power to fill the void in his own body.

Under these conditions, using the hypnotic ability of the three-tomoe Sharingan to control the administrator had nearly drained Luo Fu completely.

Only because this administrator held a low position within the Tower of Paradise and possessed negligible strength could Luo Fu, with such weak power, hypnotize his consciousness.

If even a mid-level member of the cult had appeared now, Luo Fu would have been utterly helpless.

Having finally completed the hypnotic manipulation of the administrator’s mind, Luo Fu did not pause to rest or recover his strength—he knew every second counted now.

He could not afford the slightest delay.

The Tower of Paradise, to Luo Fu, was teeming with danger.

Luo Fu knew all too well how utterly deranged the cult controlling the Tower of Paradise was, let alone the terrifying Black Mage, Zeref Dreyfus, lurking behind it.

If Luo Fu had not just returned from the Shared Space less than an hour ago, and had been given even a little time to develop, he could have completely overthrown the entire Tower of Paradise.

Now, Luo Fu could only focus on preserving himself.

After hypnotizing the administrator, Luo Fu immediately began his operation.

First, he used the power of the three-tomoe Sharingan to implant the false memory that he had died, then compelled the administrator to personally escort him out of the Tower of Paradise.

Yes.

The Tower of Paradise was unsuitable for Luo Fu’s power localization.

Due to the world’s unique nature, as localization progressed during power sharing, Luo Fu’s magic power would grow stronger—and this increase was extremely difficult to conceal.

It wasn’t that this world lacked methods to hide magic power; it was just… Luo Fu didn’t know how.

Don’t forget: Luo Fu was merely a brat who had just returned from the Shared Space.

All his abilities came from other multiversal worlds; during localization, who knew what unpredictable changes might occur?

As the leader of the small group including Erza and Jellal in the Tower of Paradise, if Luo Fu caused any commotion, it would inevitably drag Erza and the others into trouble.

Under these circumstances, Luo Fu naturally chose the safest option.

By faking his death, he would no longer need to worry about Erza and the others being targeted by the Tower of Paradise.

Once Luo Fu completed his power localization, it would be time for the Tower of Paradise, this hell, to be destroyed.

Under the hypnotic control of the three-tomoe Sharingan, this administrator—who was barely fit to bully children—had no chance to resist; he became nothing more than a puppet manipulated by Luo Fu.

He obediently followed Luo Fu’s orders, leading him to a dock capable of leaving the Tower of Paradise.

Strictly speaking, this wasn’t a real dock—it was merely a secret access point used by cult members and overseers of the Tower of Paradise for clandestine travel.

The only vessel available was a single small boat.

Seeing this, Luo Fu frowned.

With only one small boat, it was indeed troublesome for Luo Fu to temporarily escape the Tower of Paradise.

It wasn’t that Luo Fu couldn’t row; it was that he was still just a ten-year-old brat. Alone in a boat, attempting to return to the mainland without knowledge of sea charts or water currents, he risked becoming a castaway at any moment.

Unfortunately, there was no time left for Luo Fu to devise a safer plan.

Although only this one administrator—hypnotized by Luo Fu’s three-tomoe Sharingan—knew of Luo Fu’s magic awakening, don’t forget: all the children locked in the same room with him also knew.

The longer he delayed, the greater the risk of exposure.

Only by successfully escaping the Tower of Paradise would the fake death rumor be the safest course for the children locked with him.

Though the cult was deranged, they viewed these children as mere expendables.

They treated them purely as tools.

Precisely because of this, as tools, they wouldn’t be needlessly discarded if no betrayal was detected.

Thus, the prime suspect naturally fell upon the administrator hypnotized by Luo Fu.

Luo Fu didn’t know whether the cult in the Tower of Paradise could detect traces of three-tomoe Sharingan manipulation on this administrator, but he assumed it would be impossible to hide from Zeref, the Black Mage from over four centuries ago.

For Luo Fu, he didn’t need to fully deceive Zeref—only delay his discovery until after Luo Fu had escaped the Tower of Paradise. The rest would be waiting for the moment he completed his power localization and returned as king.

After a moment of internal struggle, Luo Fu glanced at the administrator whose eyes glowed with the three-tomoe Sharingan pattern, then sprinted toward the boat and rowed straight toward the mainland.

He had no knowledge of water currents or sea charts; the only thing certain was the direction of the mainland.

Luo Fu could only gamble now.

Worst case, he’d become a castaway.

Either way, it was better than staying in the Tower of Paradise and falling into the hands of the cultists—or worse, the Black Mage.

After Luo Fu’s small boat vanished beyond the horizon, the administrator, still under the three-tomoe Sharingan’s control, suddenly jolted awake, blinking in shock as he surveyed his surroundings.

A false memory surfaced in his mind.

After discovering Luo Fu had awakened magic, he had intended to bring Luo Fu before his superior, but because Luo Fu spoke disrespectfully, he had struck him too hard during punishment.

He had killed the newly awakened Luo Fu outright.

To avoid detection by his superior, he had decided to dispose of the body by throwing it into the sea.

This fabricated memory created by Luo Fu contained numerous flaws.

For one, the whereabouts of the boat Luo Fu had taken were completely unexplained—a glaring inconsistency.

But the hypnotic control of the three-tomoe Sharingan caused the administrator to unconsciously overlook all these irrationalities.

After scanning the ocean, the administrator, now believing he had killed a magic-awakened child and dumped his body into the sea, sighed in relief upon seeing no corpse, then hurried toward the area where Luo Fu and the others were imprisoned to deal with the aftermath.

Although children in the Tower of Paradise often died from prolonged starvation and brutal labor, ordinary children and magic-awakened children were entirely different matters.

Of course, this was not the Tower of Paradise after Jellal had been corrupted by the Black Mage.

Currently, the Tower of Paradise was firmly in the hands of the cult.

These cultists were far more cruel than Jellal.

At least future Jellal wore a mask of morality; these cultists showed no pretense whatsoever.

Even if a magic-awakened child died, the administrator under Luo Fu’s hypnosis might not face serious consequences.

The reason was simple: awakening magic came at a cost.

For normal children, even a failed magic awakening caused little physical harm.

But the children of the Tower of Paradise were different—their bodies were already weakened beyond measure by starvation and labor; awakening magic under such conditions meant almost certain death.

Even if they survived, their future potential was severely limited.

Don’t assume that because Erza’s companions later became strong enough to challenge core members of Fairy Tail, their childhood suffering had no impact on their strength.

On the contrary, Simon, Wooly Buchanan, and Hugh grew to such heights only because Jellal helped them.

It was Jellal’s aid that allowed them to overcome the damage caused by their weakened childhood bodies.

But in the current Tower of Paradise, more than once, talented children had failed to awaken magic due to their environment, ending up dead or crippled.

For this administrator, as long as he could concoct an excuse to appease his superior, the death of one Luo Fu meant nothing.

Luo Fu knew this, which was why he left without hesitation.

Still, the death of a talented child wasn’t without consequence—that’s why the administrator needed to clean up the aftermath.

Meanwhile, Luo Fu, now aboard the small boat and far from the Tower of Paradise, with no sea chart and no knowledge of water currents, faced unimaginable danger drifting alone on the boundless ocean.

This boat wasn’t an official vessel used by the Tower of Paradise to travel to the mainland—it was merely a makeshift craft left behind by small groups for their own convenience.

This meant the boat itself was not sturdy.

Worse still, after losing his bearings at sea, Luo Fu was met with a violent storm as night fell.

A lone small boat, caught in such terrible weather at night, with Luo Fu’s power still unlocalized enough to withstand such natural fury—

One massive wave crashed down, shattering the boat instantly, and Luo Fu was flung into the sea.

With his limited strength, Luo Fu struggled for an unknown duration before finally succumbing to unconsciousness.

For ordinary people, even some mages, losing their vessel and falling into the open ocean under such harsh conditions meant virtually no chance of survival.

But Luo Fu was different.

His twelve multiversal powers, already undergoing localization, continued to integrate.

Even if these twelve multiversal powers were crudely combined without refinement, stacked upon a single body, they would be enough to elevate that person into one of the world’s supreme Qiangzhe .

Though he had fallen into the sea under terrible conditions, Luo Fu remained perpetually on the edge of death.

Every time his life teetered toward extinction due to environmental damage, the localization of his shared powers would slightly replenish his vitality—just enough to keep him alive.

He hovered on the brink of death, barely clinging to life, and thus remained perpetually unconscious.

When Luo Fu finally awoke,

he found himself lying in bed, rescued, beside a woman with short hair, a curvaceous figure, and a gentle smile.

Beside her stood a black-haired boy, bare-chested, wearing only shorts.

The boy looked impatient. “Ultear, since this guy’s awake, let’s stop caring for him. Didn’t Itachi say we need to find Leo as soon as possible?!”

In an instant, Luo Fu recognized the identities of the boy and the short-haired woman.

The Ice-Make Mage Ultear—and the impatient black-haired boy in shorts was none other than Gray, who would later constantly clash with Natsu in Fairy Tail.

But if Luo Fu remembered correctly, Ultear and Gray were master and apprentice, their magic rooted in Ice-Make, and their training grounds should be the frozen polar regions.

They should never have appeared near the sea between the Tower of Paradise and the mainland.

Had he been swept unconscious all the way to the polar region?

But the surrounding temperature was clearly not cold; through the window, sunlight streamed in, and there was no sign of snow or ice.

Recalling Gray’s words— they were searching for Ultear’s other disciple, Leo—

A sudden flash of insight struck Luo Fu.

Could it be that this was the moment when Leo, overestimating himself, challenged the Undead Demon Deliora—and accidentally killed Ultear?

But if Luo Fu remembered correctly, even Leo’s challenge to Deliora took place in a frozen, snow-blanketed polar wasteland.

"Gray." Ulu cast a gentle glance at her disciple behind her, then looked at Luo Fu with astonishment. "Child, can Itachi tell me what Itachi are?"

"I... how did I get here?" Luo Fu answered without addressing the question.

"Shut up," Gray grumbled. "Itachi're the guy the fisherman pulled out of his net at the dock. Who knows how Itachi ended up in it."

(End of Chapter)