On the northern coastline of the Fiore Kingdom, jagged black reefs resembled the fangs of giant beasts, ceaselessly battered by the waves, emitting a dull roar.
It was already late at night, and heavy, lead-Gray clouds pressed low over the sea, mercilessly swallowing the meager moonlight.
The air was icy and biting, mixed with a thick, salty, fishy smell.
On a relatively flat rock at the highest point of the reef, a figure sat cross-legged.
He had slightly messy, short black hair, his upper body was bare, his muscle lines were smooth and full of strength, and his lower body was clad only in dark trousers.
Even in the cold of the night, his exposed skin was covered with fine beads of sweat, and a visible white chill emanated from his body, even causing tiny ice crystals to condense and fall in the surrounding humid air—it was Gray Fullbuster, undergoing rigorous Ice-type magic training.
He closed his eyes, his breathing long and steady. With each inhale, the surrounding cold sea breeze seemed to be drawn in by an invisible force, rushing towards him more violently, to be converted into pure Ice magic by him.
With each exhale, an even more icy and biting aura dissipated.
He was performing the most basic yet most core magic control and "Cold Air Shaping" training, trying to make the flow of Ice magic inside and outside his body as natural as breathing.
"...Haa..." Gray slowly exhaled a long breath, the white mist condensing into frost, instantly freezing into tiny ice dust in the air and scattering.
"Still a little short of breaking through... Still a little short of the feeling of flow..."
He frowned slightly, about to calm down and continue.
Just then, a sound different from the usual waves, an extremely faint "splash", mixed in with the roar of the water, reached Gray's ears, which were far superior to ordinary people.
Gray suddenly opened his eyes, his dark brown pupils instantly becoming as sharp as an eagle's, and looked towards the sound.
In the sea water about ten meters away from the reef where he was standing, in a surge of water that was not too turbulent but extremely turbid, there seemed to be a dark blue object different from seaweed floating up and down, approaching the reef little by little with the push of the waves.
"Is it a person?!"
Gray did not hesitate at all, instantly interrupting his training.
The Ice magic flowing within his body suddenly converged, he stepped on the edge of the reef, and his whole person flew out like an arrow from a bow!
The movement was smooth and swift, carrying his unique fighting style—concise, precise, and without any fancy moves!
Splash!
Without the slightest hesitation, Gray plunged into the icy, churning sea water.
The biting cold almost instantly penetrated his skin, but for him, who dealt with ice and snow all year round, this temperature was still within his tolerance.
Opening his eyes in the water, his vision was blurred and chaotic. He quickly swam towards the direction of the blue object in his memory.
Soon, that dark blue color became clear in the dim underwater—it was a person, a woman!
Wearing a dark dress, her long, dark blue hair spread out like rootless seaweed, her body devoid of all consciousness, drifting with the current without any awareness.
Her back... a terrible charred wound that slashed diagonally from her right shoulder to her left waist, was shocking even in the dim sea water!
The edges of the wound showed signs of being burned, but the center was torn, and the surrounding sea water was stained with a faint reddish halo.
What made Gray's heart even more tense was that the girl's body exuded an extremely weak but pure Water-attribute magic fluctuation, as if she herself was a part of the sea water, but it was on the verge of collapsing.
Her face was paler than the sea mist, her lips were bloodless, and her breath was as weak as a wisp of wandering silk that could be cut off at any time.
"Seriously injured! Endangered!"
Gray made a judgment in an instant. He quickly approached, wrapped one arm around the other party's armpit to hold her upper body, and vigorously paddled with the other hand, kicking his feet hard, dragging the unknown blue-haired girl towards the nearest rocky shore as quickly as possible... Fairy Tail Guild hall, first floor.
Although it was late at night, it was still brightly lit and bustling.
The shouts and curses of drinking, the cheers of arm wrestling, and the noisy sounds of tables, chairs, and benches colliding were mixed together, forming the Fairy Tail's unique and vibrant nightlife scene.
"Bang!"
The guild's oak door was suddenly kicked open by a great force!
Gray, soaked to the bone, with water dripping from his hair, and bare-chested, rushed in, holding a similarly wet and unconscious blue-haired girl.
The usual composure on his face disappeared, replaced by an unprecedented solemnity and a hint of imperceptible anxiety.
"Makarov! Grandma Porlyusica! Quick! Emergency!" Gray's voice was like the collision of hard ice, instantly suppressing the noise in the hall.
The entire guild instantly quieted down, and all eyes focused on Gray and the pale, unfamiliar girl in his arms.
"Gray?!" Erza, who had just put down her glass, stood up instantly, her red hair like fire, her sharp eyes swept over the blue-haired girl's back wound, and her brow furrowed.
"My God! What is this...?!" Lucy covered her mouth, her eyes full of shock and sympathy.
"Hey, hey, hey... Gray, weren't you going to practice by the sea? How did you fish a living person back?" Natsu came over, with surprise on his face, sniffing hard with his nose, "Such a heavy sea smell... and blood... and a bit of a burnt smell?!"
"Quiet!" A dignified and steady voice sounded.
Guild Master Makarov had already stood in front of the bar at some point. The originally drunken little old man appearance had vanished, and his wrinkled face was filled with unprecedented seriousness and concern. "Gray, what's going on?"
"I don't know. I was training by the sea and found her floating on the surface. She was very seriously injured, and there were obvious magical energy residual traumas!" Gray spoke extremely quickly, "Her breath is very weak! Is Grandma Porlyusica in the guild?"
"Yes! In the treatment room in the back! Bring her in quickly!" A slightly old but full-spirited female voice came from behind, it was Porlyusica, the guild's chief healer.
Her expression was serious, and she obviously felt the seriousness of the situation.
Gray no longer said anything, and quickly bypassed the crowd with Juvia in his arms, rushing to the special treatment room in the back.
Erza, Lucy, Mira, and the little old man Makarov, as well as Natsu, immediately followed.
The originally noisy hall was instantly shrouded in a heavy atmosphere of worry and doubt.
The treatment room was not large, but it was exceptionally clean, and the air was filled with a faint fragrance of herbs.
Gray carefully placed Juvia face down on the treatment bed covered with clean white cloth.
Grandma Porlyusica immediately stepped forward, her short stature seemed incomparably reliable at this moment.
She first quickly checked Juvia's heartbeat, breathing, and pupil condition, and pressed her wrinkled hand on Juvia's cold forehead, and a gentle and powerful probing magic poured in.
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