Gray was quite surprised. "You...aren’t you Juvia, one of the Four Elents from Phantom Lord?"
Finn only then realized this; he hadn’t interacted much with Juvia during the war with Phantom Lord.
Juvia pointed to an empty seat. "May Juvia sit here?"
They exchanged a glance and nodded.
Juvia sat down. "I want to apologize for the last incident. I’m very sorry for hurting your comrades."
Juvia kept her head down, avoiding eye contact.
Finn said, "It’s in the past. Jose is dead. We won’t pursue it further."
Juvia looked up, a relieved smile on her face.
"I rember Phantom Lord is disbanded," Gray said.
Juvia nodded. "Yes. I’m a free mage now."
She showed her Fairy Tail necklace. "Besides apologizing, I also..."
She hesitated. Finn prompted, "You want to join Fairy Tail?"
Juvia nodded emphatically. "Juvia wants to join."
Gray looked troubled. "But...that happened recently. I don’t mind, but I don’t know what others will think. What do you think, Finn?"
He looked at Finn.
Finn hesitated, feeling slightly uncomfortable under Juvia’s intense gaze.
"Alright, stop staring. I need to observe you for a while to determine if you have ulterior motives towards Fairy Tail."
Hopeful, Juvia’s eyes sparkled. "Juvia will do anything."
...
anwhile, Natsu and Happy were still crying, "Get number 17 back!"
A waiter looked at Natsu anxiously. "Sir, please calm down."
"Enough, brat," a voice interrupted them.
"In a gentleman’s playground, one should behave like a gentleman and enjoy oneself," a sharply dressed man said from a bench.
Natsu and Happy stared, surprised by the man’s bizarre appearance—he seed to be made entirely of building blocks.
The Mysterious man said, "Kid, let tell you, n only have two paths." His body disintegrated into blocks, quickly reforming into two large squares.
These squares attached to Natsu’s arms, pinning him to the wall.
"Who are you?" Natsu demanded.
Happy tried to pry the blocks off, but failed.
"Live like a gentleman..." The Mysterious man’s arm blocks shifted, forming a gun with an infrared laser pointed at Natsu’s head.
"Or stop and die?"
The commotion alerted Finn and the others.
"Natsu?" Seeing Natsu in danger, Finn and Gray stood up. The area suddenly plunged into darkness.
"What’s happening?" Gray asked, confused.
"Boom~~" A huge explosion rocked the area. When the light returned, Finn and Gray’s location was reduced to rubble.
"Finn and Gray," a Mysterious man with a white head wrap and an armored chin guard appeared beside the Mysterious man.
"These two seem different from the rumors," the Mysterious man comnted.
"Since you attacked us, you’re not leaving," Finn said, appearing silently behind them.
The Mysterious man spun around to see Finn, completely unhard. Before he could react, Finn’s fist connected with his abdon, knocking him unconscious.
"What? One punch? I wanted to ask so questions," Finn muttered, sowhat disappointed.
He turned to the Mysterious man. "One more to go."
"Finn, save Natsu!" Happy cried out.
Finn gave a thumbs-up.
The Mysterious man was shocked. "When...? My partner just went down!"
Finn wasted no ti, grabbing the Mysterious man by the throat to ensure he couldn’t escape.
"I ask, you answer. Otherwise..." Finn tightened his grip, emphasizing his threat.
The Mysterious man nodded frantically.
"Release Natsu." A flash of light, and the blocks returned to the man. Natsu fell to the ground.
"I’m saved! I’m saved!" Natsu rubbed his sore arm, then challenged the Mysterious man. "Blockhead, you wanna fight?"
Just then, water gathered behind Finn, and Gray tumbled out, followed by Juvia, who had reford from the water.
She imdiately began apologizing to Finn. "I’m so sorry, Finn-san. The situation was critical, so I could only save Gray-san imdiately. It wasn’t intentional, really..."
"It’s fine, Juvia," Finn interrupted, understanding that she had indeed tried to save him but hadn’t been able to reach him in ti. He wasn’t going to dwell on it.
"Those who attacked us?" Gray asked, looking at the two now held captive by Finn.
Finn nodded and turned to the Mysterious man. "Who are you? And why did you attack us?"
With the situation dramatically reversed, the Mysterious man had no choice but to cooperate fully.
"I’m Wally. The man on the ground is Simon. We’re all forr comrades of Erza’s." Wally gave a full confession.
"Erza’s forr comrades?" Gray looked at them both in confusion.
Finn, upon hearing their confession, realized these were Erza’s forr comrades from the Tower of Heaven. But Erza had said they were still at the Tower.
Their presence here ant the Tower was likely complete.
"You’re here for Erza?" Finn asked, as he couldn’t think of any other reason for their attack.
Wally nodded.
"What do you want with Erza?"
Wally hesitated, but the pressure from Finn’s grip forced a confession.
"We’re here to take Erza back to the Tower of Heaven. It’s Jellal’s orders."
Finn frowned. "Natsu, Gray, take these two. Let’s go find Erza."
anwhile, in the poker area.
Lucy watched Erza with admiration. "A straight flush! Erza, you’re amazing!"
Erza had a ten, jack, queen, king, and ace. She stroked her chin confidently. "My luck’s pretty good today."
A yellow-haired man approached. "Ti for a change of dealer."
Erza remained suprely confident. "I think I can win no matter who deals."
"In that case, let’s try a different kind of ga," the yellow-haired man said, beginning to deal the cards.
Erza paused, looking at the cards on the table. These weren’t ordinary playing cards; each card displayed a single letter, and the five cards together spelled out ’DEATH’.
"Let’s gamble with our lives, Erza-nee," the yellow-haired man said, his tone dark and nacing.
"You’re...Shô..." Seeing the man, Erza’s mind flashed back to a face from her past—a child who had always followed her, calling her "nee-san" (older sister).
Shô spread his hands. "Long ti no see, nee-san."
"Nee-san?" Lucy looked at Erza, questioning the familiar term.
Erza stared at Shô, her body trembling slightly. Lucy had never seen Erza so shaken.
Suddenly, the entire area was plunged into darkness. Lucy looked around in terror. "What’s happening?!"
The darkness was fleeting. When the light returned, Shô was gone, and the other people who had been present monts before had also vanished without a trace, leaving only Erza and Lucy.
"I’m right here, nee-san," Shô’s voice echoed from behind Erza.
Shô was continuously flicking playing cards from his hands, and as the cards fell to the ground, figures could be seen trapped within each card.
Sounds of terror and panic emanated from within the cards.
"People are trapped inside the cards?" Lucy exclaid in disbelief.
"This is...magic? You can use magic now?" Erza seed genuinely surprised that Shô had developed magical abilities.
"ow~"
A pink magic circle flashed beneath Lucy’s feet, and a rope, seemingly imbued with life, snaked upwards, swiftly binding Lucy’s body completely.
"Lucy—" Erza was instantly filled with worry, but her gaze was imdiately drawn to the figure that had appeared behind Lucy.
"Millianna, you...can use magic too?" Erza called out the na of the figure, her voice laced with shock and disbelief.
"Long ti no see, little Erza," Millianna said, playfully licking her paw like a cat.
"Let Lucy go! She’s my comrade!" Erza urged, her voice filled with urgency as the rope binding Lucy tightened, causing Lucy to let out a soft moan of discomfort.
"ow, comrade?" Millianna responded with a dismissive and disdainful tone.
Shô, his head bowed low, seed to be lost in thought, lost in mories. "Weren’t we comrades once, too, nee-san?" he murmured softly.
Upon hearing this, Erza found herself montarily speechless and at a loss for words.
"Weren’t we?" Shô tilted his head slightly, his gaze fixed on Erza.
"Until you betrayed all of us, nee-san," Shô’s voice was low and heavy with a profound sense of bitterness and resentnt.
__________________
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