“It’s the cute furball that appeared during the day!” Lucy’s eyes practically turned into sparkling stars.
She threw her arms open, leaning eagerly toward Kuriboh.
The little brown fiend blinked its large, expressive eyes.
It seemed to have a good impression of the blonde Celestial Mage, but it still floated backward a few inches, glancing over its shoulder to seek Chase’s approval.
Chase gave a slight nod.
Receiving permission, Kuriboh let out a happy trill and floated right into Lucy’s soft, welcoming embrace.
She nuzzled the fluffy creature, letting out a long sigh of pure bliss.
After a thorough round of petting, Lucy and the Dark Magician Girl simultaneously set their respective adorable companions down.
Kuriboh and Plue stood on the wooden coffee table.
The two pint-sized creatures stared at each other in absolute silence for exactly two and a half seconds.
“Kuri?” “Puu puu?” “Kuri kuri!” “Puu~” Having apparently exchanged a highly encrypted greeting, the two mascots joined hands and began dancing in a joyful circle, instantly becoming the best of friends.
The world of cute creatures operated on a wavelength completely beyond understanding to ordinary minds.
Natsu, however, possessed zero appreciation for such things.
He gave the dancing duo a flat, unimpressed look before turning his attention elsewhere.
Propping his chin in his hand, the Dragon Slayer frowned in thought.
He looked up at Chase, his onyx eyes narrowing with curiosity.
“Hey, Chase.
When I busted in just now, I caught a whiff of a seriously terrifying Magic Power fluctuation.
That was you, right?” “I felt it too,” Lucy added, tearing her gaze away from the dancing mascots.
A slight shiver ran down her arms.
“I acquired a new card monster,” Chase said, spreading his hands in a casual gesture.
He made no effort to hide his excitement.
“You two just happened to barge in right as I was about to summon it.” “A new monster?” Natsu bolted upright, his previous boredom vanishing in a flash of fiery enthusiasm.
“What is it?
Show me!” “Brace yourselves, Natsu.
This isn’t your average summon.” Chase’s lips curled into a mysterious, confident smile.
“This is a legendary, top-tier entity.
A beast bestowed with the title of a god…” He drew a card from his deck and slapped it face-up onto the coffee table.
“Slifer the Sky Dragon!” Natsu and Lucy leaned over the table, their eyes locking onto the complex artwork.
The image alone was enough to steal the breath from their lungs.
Scarlet, bone-ridged wings.
Two massive, jagged mouths.
A serpentine body wrapped in an aura of absolute devastation.
Just looking at the glossy surface of the card sent a phantom wave of monstrous ferocity crashing into their minds.
It was a primal, world-ending pressure that shook their very spirits.
The sheer might of a phantom god.
“A dragon?!” Natsu’s voice cracked.
Whether it was the natural instinct of his Dragon Slayer Magic or the sheer overwhelming presence radiating from the cardboard, his entire body began to tremble violently.
Beside him, Lucy let out a deafening gasp, her hands flying to her cheeks.
“Mr.
Chase!
Were you seriously planning to summon a terrifying, city-crushing behemoth right here in your living room?!
In the middle of Magnolia?!” Her panicked shriek struck Chase like a physical blow.
He blinked.
His pupils dilated.
His mouth fell open in a look of deep, belated realization.
“He didn’t think about it!” Lucy pointed an accusing finger at him, her jaw dropping.
“That is the exact face of a man who completely forgot about the concept of collateral damage!” She buried her face in her hands, groaning into her palms.
Chase wanted to summon a colossal dragon inside a residential district, and Natsu spent his days tearing up towns looking for one.
No wonder these two got along so well.
They shared the exact same brain cell.
The majestic, reliable image of the S-Class Mage that Lucy had built up in her mind shattered into a million irreparable pieces.
“I have to admit, Lucy, you caught me off guard.” Chase recovered quickly, letting out a light cough into his fist to mask his embarrassment.
He nodded with genuine surprise.
“You actually have a surprisingly complete grasp of civic planning.” In truth, he hadn’t fully expected the summon to succeed on his first try anyway.
But he genuinely hadn’t spared a single thought for the structural integrity of Magnolia.
The townsfolk were a forgiving bunch.
They surely wouldn’t hold a little accidental leveling of the neighborhood against him.
Still, the panic a giant red dragon would cause was a hassle, and the subsequent paperwork from the Magic Council would be a fate worse than death.
“Is it really that surprising that I possess basic common sense?!” Lucy shrieked, her freshly washed blonde hair practically standing on end.
Chase ignored her outburst.
Instead, he leaned over and whispered into the Dark Magician Girl’s ear.
“Lucy gives off the vibe of a silly, easily manipulated little girl, doesn’t she?” “I can hear you!” Lucy snapped, her face flushing red.
“Anyway, thanks for the heads-up, Daisy,” Chase laughed, scratching the back of his head.
“You’re not even trying to pretend you know my name anymore!” Lucy waved her arms in pure exasperation.
“It’s Lucy!
Not Daisy!” Before she could continue her rant, a wave of blistering heat washed over the room.
“Chase!
What are you waiting for?!” Natsu slammed his fists together, igniting a burst of flames.
He bounced on the balls of his feet, his trademark grin stretched wide across his face.
“Hurry up and summon it!
That dragon looks super strong!
I want to fight it!
I’m getting fired up!” Lucy stared at the pink-haired pyromaniac, utterly drained of energy.
He hadn’t listened to a single word of the conversation.
According to the ideal trajectory of her evening, she should be comfortably tucked into her bed right now, hugging a soft pillow and drifting off to sleep.
How did she end up trapped in a ruined house with these two battle-crazed idiots?
“Ah, about that.
It’s not going to happen tonight,” Chase said, plucking the Slifer card off the table.
He glanced over at the trio of Happy, Plue, and Kuriboh, who were now doing an awkward, synchronized line dance across the floor.
“Unfortunately, my Magic Power isn’t nearly high enough to bring Slifer out right now.” He had realized this harsh truth mid-chant.
Even though Natsu and Lucy’s sudden intrusion had broken his concentration, the oppressive, mountainous shadow of Slifer the Sky Dragon had flashed through his consciousness for a fraction of a second.
Just that fleeting connection had drained his reserves dry.
If he forced the summon at the cost of his physical stamina, the God Card might manifest for a single second before vanishing.
It was completely impractical for combat.
Yet, Chase felt no frustration.
This was exactly what he expected from a deity.
The harder Slifer was to summon, the higher its absolute ceiling of power.
He would need that overwhelming strength in the future.
After all, the day would come when he had to stand against the Black Wizard Zeref, the Dragon King Acnologia, and the Five Dragon Gods.
“Man, what a letdown.” Natsu’s shoulders slumped.
The roaring flames coating his fists snuffed out in an instant, leaving a faint trail of smoke.
He turned toward the gaping hole in the wall where the front door used to be.
“Come on, Lucy, Happy.
Let’s head back.” This entire night raid had been orchestrated to get back at Chase for his earlier teasing.
Now that Chase was out of magic and the awesome dragon was off the table, there was zero reason to stick around.
Lucy shot up from her seat at the speed of light, nodding so fast her neck popped.
While she desperately wanted to chat more with the adorable Dark Magician Girl, she refused to spend another second in this chaotic hazard zone.
Especially not while wearing only a towel and a borrowed shirt.
“Hold it right there.” Chase’s voice cut through the room, freezing the two mages and the blue cat in their tracks.
“Lucy and Plue are free to go,” Chase said smoothly.
He rolled his shoulders, his knuckles popping with a series of sharp, menacing cracks.
“But as for the guy who pulverized my front door, and the cat who used my coffee table as a scratching post…
you two aren’t going anywhere.” He flashed a dark, predatory smile.
“Come over here.
Let’s have a little chat.
Let’s bond like men.” Beside him, the Dark Magician Girl caught his drift perfectly.
She raised her staff, letting out a mischievous, musical giggle.
Natsu and Happy slowly turned their heads to look at each other.
A cold sweat broke out on their foreheads.
True partners didn’t need words.
Operating on pure survival instinct, the boy and the cat bolted for the exit simultaneously.
But the moment their feet left the floor, Chase raised his hand.
“Open face-down card.” Buzz!
Buzz!
Buzz!
Three blinding pillars of golden light erupted from the ceiling, solidifying into massive, glowing blades that slammed into the floorboards, forming an inescapable cage.
Natsu and Happy slammed face-first into the barrier, sliding down the magical glass with comical groans.
Swords of Revealing Light.
A binding Spell Card with power rivaling the highest tier of S-Class sealing magic.
[Akarin’s Note: Enjoying the story?