The sky over Magnolia was a leaden Gray, with low-hanging clouds like a giant, tear-soaked rag, heavily covering the city.
Even the usually boisterous sea breeze now carried a whimpering moan as it swept through the silent streets, finally turning into a silent sigh before the heavy wooden doors of the Fairy Tail Guild.
Inside the Guild hall, the air was as still as cold amber.
There was no usual clamor, no clinking of glasses, no unrestrained laughter.
Only heavy breathing, suppressed sobs, and the faint groans of tables and chairs trembling unconsciously.
The door hinges let out a jarring, mournful creak, as Erza and her companions stepped into this desolate place of sorrow.
They had returned.
Bearing the smoke, dust, dried blood, and… a vast, unhealable void deep within their souls.
Erza walked at the front, having shed her heavily damaged Heavens Wheel Armor; bandages visible beneath her regular clothes faintly seeped blood.
Her face, always as resolute as steel, was now etched with fatigue, her eyes having lost their usual sharpness, leaving only a heavy, unyielding sorrow.
Each step felt like treading on invisible thorns, heavy and slow.
Natsu followed behind, his hair having lost its fiery luster, clinging limply to his forehead.
Happy lay on his shoulder, his small body curled up, his blue fur dull, his big eyes filled with tears, yet stubbornly refusing to fall.
Gray walked in silence, exuding an even more biting chill than usual.
His bare upper body was covered in battle scars, the edges of his ice-crystalized wounds tinged purplish-blue.
His lips were tightly pressed, his jawline taut, his ice-blue eyes like frozen polar glaciers, bottomless and reflecting no light.
With each step, a small patch of thin frost would form beneath his feet, only to quickly melt in the heavy air.
Gajeel dragged his heavy steps, many of the steel scales on his body shattered and curled back, revealing the dark red flesh beneath.
He habitually chewed on something, but it was no longer iron, but a piece of wood splinter he'd picked up from who knows where, chewing it without taste.
In those defiant eyes, there was now only a near-numb fatigue and… a subtle, almost imperceptible bewilderment.
Cana's eyes were swollen like peaches, her long black hair clinging messily to her cheeks.
She tightly clutched an empty wine bottle in her hand, her knuckles white from the force.
Her usual sly and lazy smile was gone, replaced by endless grief.
She seemed to want a drink, but found the bottle already empty, only to futilely bring the mouth of the bottle to her lips, then dejectedly lower it.
Ikaruga remained cool and detached, but that coolness now carried a bone-deep weariness.
Her white kimono was stained with dust and dark smudges, and the tachi sheath at her waist had several new scratches.
She lowered her head slightly, her long eyelashes casting faint shadows on her pale face, obscuring the turbulent emotions in her eyes.
Lucy and Yukino leaned on each other, tear stains still visible on Lucy's cheeks.
Yukino's face was paler than usual, her lips tightly pressed, her eyes filled with the emptiness of having lost something important.
Max walked last, his emerald pupils devoid of all light, staring blankly ahead, as if his soul had been drawn away with the disappearance of someone.
His body was slightly hunched, each step taken with extreme difficulty, as if bearing an invisible, crushing burden.
Their return brought no cheers of victory, only suffocating silence and… a vast, unfillable void.
The Guild members who had stayed behind had already gathered.
Mira's professional, mask-like gentle smile completely shattered, leaving only undisguised shock and panic.
She looked at Erza and her companions; everyone had returned safely, except for Ezreal.
Yes, except for Ezreal.
Mira's lips trembled slightly; she wanted to ask something but couldn't make a sound.
Levy's colorful magic book dropped to the ground with a 'thud,' its thick pages fanning out, like her shattered heart at that moment.
She stared blankly at the battered group, her eyes behind her glasses instantly blurred with tears, yet she stubbornly refused to let them fall, only biting her lower lip until she tasted the rusty, metallic flavor of blood.
"Erza… Natsu… Gray…" Mira's voice trembled with disbelief, "Where… where is Ezreal?"
Erza took a deep breath, a breath that felt like inhaling a cold blade, cutting her throat painfully.
She looked around at the eyes filled with hope, yet also deep fear—Levy, Macao, Laki, Alzack, Bisca… everyone's face was etched with unease.
"We…" Erza's voice was hoarse like sandpaper rubbing, each word heavy as a thousand pounds, "stopped Nirvana from activating… destroyed Oración Seis… defeated their leader, Zero."
After a brief, deathly silence, there was an almost unbearable, careful gasp and low cheer.
But when their gazes met the bottomless sorrow in Erza's eyes, met Natsu's bowed head, met the desperate chill emanating from Gray, met Cana's swollen eyes and Max's hollow gaze… that faint glimmer of post-disaster relief instantly froze and shattered.
"But…" Erza's voice suddenly rose, with a near-shattering resolve, yet in the next second, it sank, filled with endless weariness and pain, "Ezreal… Ezreal he…"
She paused again.
The hall was eerily quiet, as if even breathing had ceased.
Everyone's heart felt as if it were being squeezed tightly by an invisible hand, rising to their throats, almost stopping its beating.
"To prevent Nirvana, completely twisted by Zero's dark will, from activating… to protect us…"
Erza's voice trembled uncontrollably; she closed her eyes, then suddenly opened them again, as if needing all her strength to utter the cruel truth.
"Ezreal… he chose self-sealing. He sealed himself, along with that core crystal ball completely contaminated by darkness, and all his Summoned Beast companions… together in his unique Dimensional Summoning space, falling into… eternal slumber."
"Eternal… slumber?" Mira's voice was as light as a feather, her face instantly turning ashen white, her body swaying, almost unable to stand.
She instinctively gripped the nearby bar, her fingertips sinking deep into the hard wooden surface.
"He… sacrificed himself." Max's voice was deep, as if coming from underground, each word carrying a bloody weight.
He raised his hollow eyes, looking into the void, as if there was a figure he could no longer reach, "To save all of us… he locked himself and that damned, cursed source of darkness, together… in eternal slumber…"
"He… disappeared… right before our eyes…"
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