Kageyama stiffened. Slowly, agonizingly, he raised his head toward the voice cutting through the canopy.
White hair.
Dark, winding tattoos.
A grin that stretched entirely too wide, and a massive scythe that reeked of suffocating death magic.
Floating effortlessly above the treeline was Erigor.
The sheer terror in Kageyama's chest cracked his voice into a pathetic wheeze. "L-Leader… I—I—!"
Kai didn't look surprised. He didn't even bother turning around to face the floating threat. Instead, he kept his eyes locked on Kageyama's, watching Erigor's distorted reflection in the shadow mage's trembling pupils. Kai sighed, his hand reaching forward smoothly, almost gently, as if he were about to offer a consoling pat on the shoulder. Kageyama looked up at him, a sudden, desperate spark of hope flickering in his eyes.
Instead, Kai gave him a profoundly bored glance and—
BAM.
A clean, brutal uppercut to the chin.
Not magical. Not flashy. Not even particularly cruel. Just purely, devastatingly efficient.
Kageyama went limp like a puppet with its strings severed, collapsing backward onto the dirt with a heavy thud.
Kai stood up straight, casually dusting off his knuckles. "He was noisy. And slow. I hate slow."
Only then did he turn his gaze fully to Erigor. The faint boredom etched into his features curved, just a fraction, into genuine amusement.
"Huh. The big boss is actually here," Kai murmured, a lazy smirk pulling at his lips. "Looks like I picked the right track. Red's gonna be absolutely furious when she finds out I got to him first."
Behind him, a heavy rustling broke through the bushes as Lucy and Happy finally burst into the clearing, both panting heavily. The moment Lucy spotted Erigor, she practically dove behind Kai, dragging Happy into her chest.
She didn't do it because she trusted Kai blindly—not after he had just callously dumped them on the ground while skating through the forest at breakneck speeds. She did it because his presence—that strange, deeply calm, self-contained confidence—felt like a shield.
And Erigor… Erigor felt like the exact opposite of safety.
Lucy stared up at the hovering man. The sheer malice rolling off his magic made her chest tighten, her breathing turning shallow and erratic. Her heart hammered against her ribs. This man didn't feel like anyone from Fairy Tail. He wasn't loud and obnoxious like Natsu, he wasn't fiercely warm like Erza, and he wasn't gruffly reliable like Gray.
Erigor felt like an open grave waiting to be filled.
Without even realizing it, Lucy's fingers tightly gripped the fabric of Kai's sleeve. Happy trembled violently in her arms, his voice a tiny squeak. "Th-That's Erigor… the Shinigami…"
Meanwhile — Onibas Station
Erza, Natsu, and Gray had been combing every square inch of the station, growing more frustrated by the second. They had found absolutely nothing.
Until a panicked, static-heavy announcement blared through the station's overhead speakers.
"Emergency alert—Kunugi Station reports a train hijacking by a group of dark mages—"
Every muscle in Erza's body locked. She stared toward the announcer's booth, her eyes widening in sudden, stark realization. "WHAT?!"
She didn't just walk; she sprinted. Smashing through the door of the booth, Erza grabbed the announcer by his collar and lifted him completely off the floor with a single hand.
"Tell me everything. When did this happen? QUICKLY!"
The poor man practically choked on his own spit, terrified for his life under the fierce, demonic glare of the scarlet-haired wizard. He wheezed out, "T-They just sent the message! A dark guild… they took over the train… passengers have already been killed or thrown out—!"
Erza dropped him unceremoniously, snatched the microphone, and roared into it.
"Natsu! Gray! Get to the transportation section NOW!"
Within seconds, the two boys arrived, out of breath and thoroughly confused. But the sheer gravity of the look on Erza's face instantly erased any questions they had.
"We were wrong," she nearly snarled, her fist clenching. "Eisenwald isn't here."
Natsu blinked, shaking his head. "Wait—what do you mean—"
"We don't have time!" Erza cut him off fiercely. "We need to move. I have a feeling Kai is already ahead of us."
She marched straight out of the station, spotted a magic vehicle vendor, and slapped a heavy pouch of jewels directly into his chest. "I'm taking this."
The vendor stumbled backward from the sudden shove, barely managing to gasp out, "Wait, you can't just—"
Erza didn't care to listen. She threw herself into the driver's seat, forcibly slamming the magic-conduction wire into her hand. The SE plug glowed violently as the engine roared to life with a deafening scream.
Natsu went pale instantly, his motion sickness flaring up just looking at the thing. "Erza, w-wait! Can't we just walk—!"
A single, murderous glare from her made him shut his mouth and climb into the back seat like an obedient puppy. Gray buckled himself in next to him, shouting over the roaring wind, "What the hell is happening, Erza?! At least fill us in!"
Erza slammed her foot on the accelerator, her eyes locked on the road ahead.
"We were tricked. Eisenwald hijacked the train because their true objective lies somewhere else. The man Kai pursued into the woods must have been their actual target. And if Kai found the one carrying the Lullaby…" Her gauntlet tightened on the steering wheel until the metal groaned. "He's already fighting alone."
Kai, don't do anything stupid…
The magic four-wheeler shot down the dirt road like a crimson comet, leaving a massive cloud of dust in its wake.
Back at Kunugi Station — Kai vs Erigor
Up in the air, Erigor narrowed his eyes, catching the faint, mocking smirk playing on the tinker-monk's lips.
"You got something to laugh about, fairy fly?" Erigor's voice carried over the clearing like a biting winter wind. "Or are you already pissing yourself?"
Lucy felt Kai's posture stiffen slightly. Then—to her utter bewilderment—he laughed.
It wasn't a nervous chuckle. It was a short, genuinely amused, warm sound. Lucy and Happy both jumped at the bizarre reaction.
Kai shook his head, pointing a lazy finger right up at the dark guild leader. "Nah. I'm just laughing because… well, you're not wearing any underwear, are you? The wind is blowing your pants right up against your crotch. It's a bit vivid, mate."
Lucy's jaw hit the floor.
Happy let out a strangled, "Aye?!"
Erigor froze midair.
Instinctively, the terrifying Shinigami looked down, both hands snapping to his waistband. He found nothing out of the ordinary, but the psychological damage was already done. His face flushed a violent, furious shade of crimson.
"How dare you… HOW DARE YOU MOCK ME?!" Erigor roared, his dark magic flaring outward in violent waves.
Lucy stared at Kai's back, utterly stunned. He joked… now? At a time like this?
But as she looked at him, she realized something strange. The crushing dread that had been squeezing her chest just a moment ago was gone. The ridiculous joke had broken the tension, allowing her to actually breathe again. It made her believe they might actually get out of this alive.
So this is what they meant when they said he's reliable… Lucy thought, a small spark of hope igniting in her chest.
Happy clung to her arm, whispering in awe, "He's so cool…"
"DIE, FAIRY TAIL!" Erigor screamed, swinging his scythe in a wide arc. "Wind Blade Barrage!"
The wind howled in protest. Crescent blades of compressed, slicing air erupted from the sky, ripping the trees to splinters and tearing massive gashes into the earth. Lucy screamed, horrified not just by the attack, but by the fact that Kageyama was still lying unconscious right beneath the trajectory. Erigor hadn't hesitated for a single second to slaughter his own guildmate.
Before the blades could shred them to pieces, Kai moved.
He scooped up Lucy and Happy in one arm, snatched the unconscious Kageyama by the scruff of his collar with the other, and muttered a quiet breath: "Shadow Monk Arts: Body Strengthening."
An instant later, he burst forward. The sheer force of his takeoff left a crater where his feet had been.
The world blurred into a streak of green and brown. The terrain shifted in a fraction of a second. Suddenly, they were standing ten meters away in untouched, peaceful grass. Behind them, the spot they had occupied just a heartbeat ago was reduced to a devastated wasteland of shredded dirt and pulverized stone.
Lucy's knees buckled.
Kai didn't even bother looking back. A thick hiss of steam escaped his mouth—a testament to how rapidly his blood temperature had spiked to achieve that absurd burst of speed. He casually dropped Kageyama onto the grass and cracked his neck, speaking in his usual, completely unbothered tone.
"Blondie. Cat. Take the unconscious loser and get the hell out of the splash zone."
He took a step forward, approaching the hovering mass of wind magic like a man casually walking toward a mildly irritating chore.
Lucy's heart pounded violently. "W-wait—Kai! I can help too! We're a team—!"
Her argument was violently cut short. Erigor flashed across the sky like a phantom, his eyes manic and bloodshot as he raised his scythe high. A second, much larger barrage of storm blades screeched downward, looking as though they were tearing the very fabric of the sky apart.
Kai didn't hesitate. With a sharp, practiced flick of his wrists, the heavy linen wraps around his forearms unraveled, whipping through the air like living chains. He grabbed Lucy—who was still clutching Happy—and threw them completely out of the blast radius in one smooth, brutal motion. Before Lucy could even yell, he kicked Kageyama's body after them, sending the shadow mage skidding across the dirt like a ragdoll.
"KAI!" Lucy screamed as she tumbled across the grass, coming to a rough stop alongside a groaning Happy.
The wind blades struck. The world dissolved into a blinding wall of white wind and screaming steel.
Through the dust, Lucy's breath caught as she saw Kai raise his hands. A glowing, intricate magic circle bloomed above him, spinning at a dizzying speed. His unraveled wraps shot upward, weaving directly into the magic circle and spinning so fast they blurred into a solid, impenetrable disc of fabric and mana. The wind blades ground against the barrier, screeching and throwing violent sparks as the two opposing forces clashed.
Within seconds, the sheer volume of dust swallowed Kai from view. Lucy could only listen to the terrifying, violent screech of colliding magic.
Happy clutched Lucy's arm, his tiny voice trembling violently. "Lucy… we—we have to trust him! We need to get back and leave it to Kai!"
The storm reached a fever pitch. Hovering high above the devastation, Erigor let out a maniacal roar:
"WIND BLADE FUNERAL!"
The air blades grew massive, tearing into the earth and ancient trees like they were wet paper. Lucy, Happy, and Kageyama—whom Happy was desperately dragging by the leg—scrambled backward as explosive shockwaves tore open deep trenches in the ground.
Amidst the chaos, Kai closed his eyes.
"Shadow Monk Arts: Vishnu's Embrace."
The spinning magic circle expanded, the fabric wraps moving at a speed that defied physics, absorbing the brunt of the kinetic fury. And then—
BOOM!
A cataclysmic shockwave of wind shattered the remaining trees, followed by a sudden, eerie silence.
Thick, heavy dust billowed across the clearing, blotting out the sun. The forest was entirely gone, replaced by a smoking, cratered wasteland.
Lucy stared in absolute horror, her voice breaking. "Kai…?"
Erigor hovered in the air, panting heavily. The air around him was burnt and acrid. He scanned the ruined earth, searching for any sign of the arrogant brat who had dared to mock him.
"Where… did he go?" Erigor muttered, his eyes darting across the empty, desolate crater.
A quiet, dangerous whisper materialized directly behind his ear.
"Shadow Step. It's pretty useful for getting out of tight spots."
Panic seized Erigor. He whipped around violently—but he was already too late. Kai's fingers were a mere inch from his throat.
In a desperate, primal reflex, Erigor forced a localized wind veil to explode outward from his skin. The sudden blast threw Kai's arm back, the sheer pressure snapping two of the monk's fingers with a sickening crack. Erigor seized the opening, spinning on his axis to slash downward with his scythe.
Kai didn't waste a single millisecond staring at his broken fingers. He cartwheeled over the descending blade, his movements fluid and entirely instinctual. However, lacking a solid footing in midair, he couldn't dodge the follow-up. Erigor's wind-coated boot smashed heavily into Kai's ribs, sending him crashing downward into the dirt.
But even as he fell, Kai's hand blurred.
He reached into his pouch, his fingers flicking outward with a faint, magical glow. Two tiny, metallic orbs shot toward Erigor.
"Weak tricks!" Erigor snarled, shredding the first orb instantly with a sharp gust of wind.
But instead of shattering into useless dust, the orb exploded into a highly pressurized cloud of vaporized gasoline, which was immediately sucked into the swirling wind currents directly surrounding Erigor's body.
Erigor's eyes widened in sudden, stark horror. Before he could even attempt to disperse his wind armor, the second orb arrived. It ignited with a brilliant, violent burst of sparks.
FWOOOOOM!
A deafening roar echoed through the clearing as Erigor's own wind armor turned into a raging, swirling twister of fire, violently pulling every single drop of the vaporized fuel into itself. The Shinigami screamed in agonizing pain, thrashing and rolling through the sky like a falling star.
Down below, Lucy and Happy watched the sky burn in sheer disbelief.
"D-Did he… did he just burn him alive…?" Lucy whispered, her face pale.
Suddenly, the flames suffocating Erigor vanished as his wind armor finally collapsed. His badly charred, smoking form dropped out of the sky, completely devoid of strength. But before Erigor could even hit the ground, Kai materialized directly beneath him. He snatched Erigor by the ankle and ragdolled him into the ruined earth, slamming him face-first into the dirt like a filthy rug.
Left. Right. Left. Right.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Violent tremors rocked the clearing as Erigor's agonizing shrieks echoed through the wasteland. Each brutal slam cracked the forest floor deeper, kicking up loose stone and dirt.
"Aaah! Aaaagh! STOP!" Erigor screamed, the sheer terror forcing his body to tap into its final reserves of magic. A desperate, erratic pulse of wind exploded from his body, forcibly shoving Kai's hands away.
Kai merely smirked, casually wiping a smudge of soot from his hands onto his pouch as he watched Erigor stumble backward, desperately trying to reform a shaky barrier of wind.
Kai made a tiny, sharp flick of his wrist.
Something small flew straight at Erigor's face.
Traumatized by the previous explosion, Erigor panicked violently. He instantly dropped his wind armor to avoid feeding another fire, raising his arms to shield his broken form—
Clack.
It was just a harmless pebble.
"YOU—!" Erigor roared, his face twisting in absolute humiliation as he realized the trap. He desperately tried to summon his magic again, but the window of opportunity had slammed shut.
Kai was already behind him.
Hooking his forearms securely under Erigor's chin, Kai violently pulled the dark wizard backward while driving his knee straight into the base of Erigor's spine.
A sickening, echoey CRUNCH resonated through the clearing as the vertebrae dislocated.
Erigor gasped, his entire lower half instantly going completely numb. No blood escaped his lips, but the sheer, agonizing shock made him feel as though his soul was being forcibly ripped from his body. Kai kept his boot pressed firmly into the injury, pushing forward with cold precision. Bone creaked under the pressure. Erigor's breath broke into a pathetic, terrified whimper.
Real, unadulterated terror filled the eyes of the so-called Shinigami.
Kai leaned in close, his voice dropping into a low, soft, almost playful whisper against Erigor's ear. "Hey… Shinigami. Do you know what happens when a god of death dies?"
Erigor choked, unable to draw air, unable to answer. Panic clawed at his throat. He silently cursed his own arrogance—cursed the fact that he had sent his entire guild ahead, genuinely believing he was untouchable.
Kai's grin widened, sharp and predatory. "Even I don't know. Let's find out together, yeah?"
Erigor's eyes bulged. He tried to scream, to beg, but only a pathetic puff of air escaped his throat.
But just as Kai began to apply fatal pressure, two frantic voices broke through the heavy atmosphere like a knife.
"KAI!"
Kai paused. He slowly turned his head.
Lucy and Happy stood a few meters away, panting heavily. Initially, their faces had been flooded with relief and pride—they thought Kai had won, that he had miraculously defeated a dark guild leader all by himself with minimal injuries. But as the dust settled, the horrific reality of the scene set in. They saw the agonizing, unnatural arch of Erigor's spine, and the cold, unblinking look in Kai's eyes.
"K-Kai! What are you doing?!" Lucy screamed, her voice cracking in pure panic. "We can't kill someone! That's not what wizards do!"
"A-Aye, Kai, remember!" Happy chimed in, his small body trembling violently. "You're a Fairy Tail wizard! You aren't a murderer!"
Kai stared back at them, his expression completely blank, devoid of any warmth. "I am a trained assassin from the Shadow Monk Order," he said, his voice entirely flat. "Did you two idiots genuinely forget that?"
Lucy's heart practically stopped. He wasn't listening. He was actually going to snap the man's neck right in front of them.
Then, abruptly, Kai burst into a loud, booming fit of laughter.
It was sharp, echoing, and entirely obnoxious.
"MAN, THE LOOK ON YOUR FACES! Oh my god, this is gold!" Kai cackled, loosening his grip and letting Erigor slump limply onto the dirt. "This is even better than the faces Red makes! You two genuinely thought I'd dirty my hands by catching a murder charge for this pathetic excuse of a mage?"
Lucy and Happy blinked, completely thrown off by the sudden whiplash.
Kai pointed a mocking finger down at the shivering, semi-paralyzed dark wizard. "Just look at him. He's even more pathetic than his shadow subordinate. You hear me, Shinigami? Even the loser I knocked out earlier didn't actively piss himself."
Lucy instinctively looked down, her face twisting in disgust as she finally noticed the dark puddle spreading beneath Erigor's trousers. The fearsome grim reaper of the dark guilds had literally wet himself in terror.
Happy immediately clamped both paws over his mouth, desperately trying to stifle a wild burst of giggles.
Erigor's mouth hung open, small, whimpering sounds escaping his throat as a wave of absolute humiliation washed over him, far worse than any physical pain Kai had inflicted.
But in their distraction, they had forgotten one crucial detail.
Behind them, Kageyama had quietly regained consciousness. Because Lucy and Happy had been too panicked to tie him up, the shadow mage had been waiting for the perfect opening.
The sudden burst of laughter was exactly what he needed.
Kageyama sprang forward with a desperate yell, launching a lethal barrage of sharp shadow spears directly at Lucy's exposed back.
"Move—!" Kai roared.
He moved faster than either of them could comprehend, his shadow stepping bringing him directly into the line of fire. Because his hands had been busy dropping Erigor, he couldn't form a proper shield in time. He threw his own body over Lucy and Happy, deflecting as many spears as he could with his unraveled linen wraps, grunting heavily as several of the dark projectiles tore deeply into his flesh.
"Kai!" Lucy shrieked, panic flaring as she realized what had happened. She reached for her belt with trembling fingers. "GATE OF THE GOLDEN BULL: TAURUS! GO!"
With a powerful burst of celestial light, the massive, axe-wielding bull appeared. Overriding his usual perverted antics upon seeing Lucy in danger, Taurus let out a furious roar and charged directly at Kageyama, swinging his massive battleaxe and forcing the shadow mage into a desperate retreat.
The moment the immediate threat was pushed back, Kai stumbled. The shadow spears had pierced deeply into his shoulders and thighs, bypassing his trained physique through sheer dark magic. As his grip on the battlefield faltered, Erigor seized his chance.
Using the absolute last reserves of his magic, the dark guild leader used a desperate blast of wind to propel his broken body upward into the sky. His burns, his broken bones, and his utter humiliation twisted into a venomous, psychotic rage.
He didn't aim for Kai. He looked down at Lucy and Happy, realizing the monk had willingly taken a hit to protect them.
"KAI! LUCY! ABOVE!" Happy screamed, pointing upward in pure terror.
Lucy panicked, her fingers fumbling across her keys, but there simply wasn't enough time. The descending storm of wind blades was already upon them.
Yet, despite his bleeding wounds, Kai was already moving. He materialized directly behind them, his spinning magic circle blooming overhead once more.
"Vishnu's Embrace," Kai choked out.
With a forceful shove, he pushed the magical barrier directly over Lucy and Happy, ensuring the shield covered their fragile bodies entirely while leaving his own back completely exposed to the elements. The stray wind blades tore mercilessly into his back, sides, and legs, slicing through cloth and flesh alike—but he didn't allow a single shard of magic to pass through to the two behind him.
A moment later, the sky finally cleared. Erigor and Kageyama were gone, having used the chaos to flee into the deeper parts of the canyon.
Lucy and Happy slowly opened their eyes, looking around the quiet wasteland before their gazes locked onto Kai.
He stood perfectly still for a moment, his arms slowly dropping to his sides. His clothes were reduced to bloody rags, and deep, crimson gashes marred almost every inch of his torso. With a heavy sigh, he dropped heavily onto his butt, huffing as he inspected his uninjured forearms—save for the two broken fingers. He gingerly reached back to touch one of the deep cuts on his shoulder, immediately wincing.
"Oow… fuck, that stings," Kai muttered, looking at his bloody fingertips.
Shaken to the core by the horrific sight of his injuries, tears welled up in Lucy's eyes. She and Happy scrambled forward. "Kai!"
Seeing them rushing toward him, Kai quickly raised a bloody hand, stopping them dead in their tracks. "Talk from right there, you idiots. I am currently a walking sauce bottle. Don't ruin whatever clothes I have left."
Lucy took a shaky step forward, a heavy tear spilling down her cheek. "I-I'm so sorry, Kai… I completely messed up. I shouldn't have forced my way out here… I should have listened to you. Because of me, you got so hurt…"
Happy stepped up beside her, actively crying into his paws. "Aye… sorry, Kai. It's my fault too. I was completely useless!"
Kai stared at the two of them, raising a single, thoroughly unimpressed eyebrow as if he were looking at a pair of complete morons. He let out a long, exhausted groan.
"This right here is exactly why I hate team-ups," Kai muttered, leaning back slightly. "Being suddenly responsible for someone else's life? What a fucking load of crap."
He looked at the two crying mess of wizards before rolling his eyes. "And stop acting like I'm dead, you morons. I endured the hits and I saved you because I knew I could. It wasn't some grand, tragic sacrifice. I knew I'd survive it. Now shut up and help me up before I actually bleed out out of spite."