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[FT: O King of the Fairies] Chapter 68
🕑 Added 2025-04-10 11:54:25 +0000 UTCThe moment we stepped inside the cell, Ur froze.
Her breath hitched, her entire body going rigid as she took in the sight before her.
Ultear.
Not a memory. Not a dream. She was here. Alive.
For years, Ur had believed her daughter was dead—stolen from her by deception and cruelty. She had mourned, hoped, even prayed. But there had never been a sign. Until now.
She looked different. Taller, stronger. No longer the helpless child Ur had once cradled in her arms. The darkness around her pulsed like a living thing, magic coiling around her form like an unseen storm.
"Ultear…" Ur’s voice trembled, raw with emotion.
Ultear’s violet eyes widened slightly. She had been expecting intruders—but not this.
For a brief second, something flickered in her gaze. Shock. Confusion. Maybe something softer.
Then it vanished.
"You."
The word dripped with venom, years of festering hatred compacted into a single syllable.
Ur took a step forward. "Ultear, it’s me—"
"Shut up."
The sheer weight of her voice made even Gildarts pause.
Ultear’s fists clenched, magic humming at her fingertips—low and dangerous. “I waited. I suffered. You left me. You abandoned me.”
Ur flinched, her composure slipping like glass under pressure.
“You lived,” Ultear spat, stepping forward, voice rising with each word. “You moved on. You were happy.”
Ur shook her head, voice soft, fragile. “No, it wasn’t like that—”
“You replaced me.”
The words hit like a slap. Ur staggered, breath hitching.
Ultear’s magic pulsed—dense, suffocating, pressing against the walls like a storm about to break.
“I saw you,” she hissed. “With your new students. Your new family. And me?” Her voice cracked. “You forgot I ever existed.”
Ur’s fingers trembled. Her voice was barely a whisper. “I never forgot. I thought you were dead—”
“Lies!” Ultear’s voice splintered. Raw. Shaking. “You didn’t look for me. You didn’t try.”
She took a shaky breath. “And when you abandoned me... I went back.”
Ur’s eyes widened. “Back…?”
Ultear laughed—a jagged, bitter sound with no joy in it.
“Where else would I go?” she said. “Where else would I go? I let them experiment on me. I let them tear me apart, over and over again, because I had nothing. Because I thought… if I could become stronger… if I could suffer enough…""
Her voice wavered. Just for a moment.
Then it hardened.
"I could destroy you."
The air became heavy, the temperature dropping as raw magic seeped from her body. The ground beneath her cracked, unable to contain the force of her hatred.
Ur’s expression shattered. "Ultear, no—"
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
The ship’s security alarms blared, red warning lights flashing across the room.
"Shit," Gildarts muttered, already turning toward the entrance.
I touched my earpiece. "NIMO?"
"You’ve got incoming. Multiple hostiles converging fast."
I turned back to Ultear. "We need to go. Now."
She didn’t move.
"Ultear," Ur pleaded. "Please."
Ultear’s jaw tightened. "No."
A pulse of darkness exploded from her form, forcing us back. By the time the light faded, she was already moving—slipping into the shadows, vanishing from sight.
"Ultear!" Ur reached out, but the first wave of dark mages flooded into the room.
We didn’t have time to chase her.
I sighed, rolling my shoulders. "Of course this got complicated."
Gildarts grinned, cracking his knuckles. "At least now we get to hit something."
The first wave of dark mages rushed in, weapons drawn, magic flaring.
Gildarts wasted no time. He stepped forward, swinging his arm in a casual arc—
BOOM!
The entire left side of the corridor exploded as his Crash magic obliterated the first few enemies, sending them flying like ragdolls. The ship’s metal groaned under the impact, but he didn’t seem to care.
"That’s one way to clear a room," I muttered.
"Well, they did come to us," Gildarts grinned, stepping over the unconscious bodies.
More enemies flooded in, undeterred by their fallen comrades. Fire, lightning, and raw magical energy blasted toward us.
I sighed. "Alright. My turn."
With a mere thought, golden rifts split open in the air behind me.
One. Two. Five. Ten.
Dozens of shimmering portals materialized, each one revealing a different weapon from my Celestial Inventory. Swords, spears, axes, hammers, firearms—each gleaming with overwhelming power. It was a spectacle of raw, limitless armament.
The dark mages hesitated. Their instincts screamed at them to run.
They should have listened.
With a flick of my fingers, the weapons fired.
Blades shot forward like meteors, spears impaled targets mid-spell, and enchanted bullets tore through enemy ranks with pinpoint precision. A barrage of destruction rained down, cutting through them like divine judgment.
One mage raised a shield—too slow. A greatsword ripped through it like paper, sending him crashing against the wall. Another tried to teleport—denied. A flurry of daggers struck him mid-motion, pinning him in place.
In seconds, the corridor was a war zone.
Gildarts whistled. "Show-off."
I smirked. "You love it."
But through the chaos, I noticed something.
Ur wasn’t moving.
She stood frozen, her magic flickering weakly at her fingertips. Her breathing was uneven, her fists clenched at her sides.
Her mind wasn’t here.
It was still with her.
Ultear.
A fresh wave of enemies approached. Ur lifted her hand, but the ice barely formed before fizzling out.
I cursed under my breath. "Ur, focus!"
She didn’t react.
Gildarts shattered another attacker’s blade with his bare hand. "Ur! We need you!"
Her head snapped up, but her eyes were lost. "She hates me."
I moved in an instant, grabbing her by the shoulders. "So what? You’re just gonna stand here and let her drown in that hatred? She’s misguided. She’s not our enemy."
Ur’s hands trembled. "But I—"
"No." My voice was firm. "You don’t get to break down now. She needs you. You can cry about it later—right now, fight."
For a moment, she just stood there.
Then—
A deep breath. A flicker of something in her eyes.
And then—
BOOM.
A spike of ice erupted from her feet, impaling three enemies mid-charge. She exhaled sharply, her magic surging back to full force.
Ur turned toward me, eyes cold, sharp. "Let’s go."
I smirked. "That’s more like it."
With that, we pushed forward, carving a path through the chaos.
Ultear was ahead of us, running deeper into the ship.
And she was baiting us.
Every turn she took, every corridor she led us through—it was deliberate. A twisted game of cat and mouse, except the mouse wasn’t running. It was leading.
Gildarts noticed it too. "She’s stalling us."
Ur’s eyes narrowed. "No. She’s leading us."
She wasn’t trying to escape.
She was taking us somewhere.
Somewhere he was waiting.
I already knew.
I had known before we even got here.
But I still let it play out.
Because Ur needed to see it with her own eyes.
And so we followed Ultear deeper into the belly of the ship.
Right into the waiting arms of Hades.
We moved fast.
Ultear was quick, but we were quicker. Every turn she took, every corridor she darted through—I memorized it instantly. She wasn’t just running. She was guiding us, her presence flickering just far enough ahead to keep us chasing.
"She’s playing us," Gildarts muttered, smashing a door off its hinges as we ran through.
"I know."
Ur was silent, her breathing sharp. She was back in the fight, but I could feel it—the hesitation. The pain that hadn't left since she saw Ultear’s face.
I didn’t blame her.
This wasn’t just a battle. It was years of loss, of guilt, of love turned into something unrecognizable.
But none of that mattered right now.
We had to catch her.
Another turn. Another long hallway.
Then—
A massive door.
Heavy, reinforced, covered in engravings. The moment Ultear slipped through it, the doors slammed shut behind her, magic locks pulsing to life.
I didn’t even stop.
BANG.
A portal opened in front of me, and a bunker-buster warhead fell straight into my hand. One toss—
BOOOOM.
The blast rocked the entire ship. The doors didn’t just break—they disintegrated. Smoke and debris rushed outward, filling the air with the scent of burnt metal and magic residue.
Gildarts let out a low whistle. "Damn. Overkill much?"
"She locked the door. I knocked," I shot back, stepping forward.
Through the smoke, I could see it.
The end of the line.
A massive chamber. Dimly lit, circular, the walls lined with strange, runic mechanisms. Magic thrummed through the air, heavy, suffocating.
Ultear stood on the far side, her posture rigid, unreadable.
And sitting before her, resting on an ornate, darkened throne—
Hades.
The moment Ur saw him, she stopped breathing.
My eyes locked onto his. He looked… amused.
"Ah… so you've finally arrived." His voice was deep, slow, deliberate. His single visible eye gleamed beneath his wide-brimmed hat.
Gildarts rolled his shoulders. "Took your time showing up. Thought you'd run."
Hades chuckled. "Why would I run? I’ve been waiting for this moment."
His gaze flicked to us-to our marks.
And he smiled.
Hades smiled, his expression unreadable. "Ah, Fairy Tail. How nostalgic."
Ur’s gaze didn’t waver. "Who are you?"
The old man chuckled, stroking his beard. "A shame. Makarov didn’t tell you guys about me."
Ultear stood beside him, silent. She had led us here, deeper and deeper into the ship’s core, until there was nowhere left to go.
And now, we stood before him.
I had known this was coming. Hades. Master of Grimoire Heart. The man who believed true magic lay in the abyss of darkness. A relic of a past Fairy Tail would rather forget.
Ur didn't recognize him. But she didn’t need to.
Her instincts screamed danger.
"You were waiting for us," I said, stepping forward.
Hades smiled. "Of course. Ultear never fails me."
I glanced at her, searching for any hesitation. Any doubt. But there was nothing.
Ur’s voice was cold. "So, what now? You gloat? You tell me how you ‘saved’ her?"
Hades sighed, shaking his head as if disappointed by her narrow perspective. "Saved? No, no, dear Ur. I gave her purpose."
Ur’s magic spiked, ice cracking beneath her feet. "You twisted her. Turned her into—"
"A survivor." Hades’ eyes gleamed, his voice carrying an almost fatherly tone—mocking, condescending. "When the world abandoned her, I showed her the truth. That strength is not found in warmth and sentiment… but in the power to take what is rightfully hers."
Ur’s breath hitched.
Ultear finally spoke. "You left me."
The words were quiet, but they cut deep.
Ur’s breath caught. "I didn’t. I—"
"Enough." Hades' voice carried weight, his presence crushing. "This conversation is pointless."
Gildarts cracked his knuckles. "Yeah? Then get to the part where we kick your ass."
Hades smiled. But this time, there was something different about it. A quiet amusement. A knowing.
His eyes flickered with something ancient.
"You should show a little more respect," he said lightly. "After all… I was once your predecessor."
The air shifted.
Ur’s expression flickered. Gildarts frowned. Even Ultear turned slightly at that.
"What?" Ur narrowed her eyes.
Hades spread his arms. "That’s right. Before I became Hades… I was known by another name."
A pause. A slow inhale.
"Precht."
Silence.
For once, even Ur was at a loss for words.
Gildarts took a step forward, disbelief flashing across his face. "Wait… Precht? As in… the former Master of Fairy Tail?"
Hades gave a mock bow. "Fairy Tail’s second Guild Master, to be precise. The successor to Mavis Vermillion herself. The one who guided the guild after her departure. The very foundation you all stand upon… is one I once ruled."
Ur looked like someone had just pulled the floor out from under her. "That’s impossible."
Gildarts’ brow furrowed. "If that’s true, then what the hell happened to you?"
Hades exhaled, almost nostalgic. "I sought truth."
His voice deepened, reverberating through the walls. "Fairy Tail… was built on lies. Naïve dreams of friendship. Hollow ideals of strength. I saw beyond it. Beyond the foolish delusions of light and hope. And when I gazed into the abyss, I found the truth of magic. The purest form of it."
His eyes gleamed with dark amusement. "Tell me… do you truly believe in the magic of friendship? That sentimental bonds make one stronger?"
Gildarts scoffed. "Damn right, we do."
Ur, however, was still staring at him, trying to process it. "You were a Fairy Tail Master… and now you lead Grimoire Heart?"
Hades nodded. "A necessary transformation. One that Ultear, too, has come to understand. Fairy Tail left her behind. But I? I gave her strength. I gave her a path."
Ur’s hands trembled. "...You stole her."
Ultear didn’t react.
Hades only smiled wider.
I exhaled through my nose. "You talk too much."
He turned to me then, his amusement barely faltering. "And you. You’ve been awfully quiet, haven’t you? Unbothered. Unshaken. Tell me… did you already know?"
I tilted my head, not even trying to deny it. "Yeah."
Ur and Gildarts turned to me in shock.
"You knew?" Ur’s voice was sharp.
I shrugged. "Of course. It’s Hades. You really think I wouldn’t have looked into him before coming here?"
Gildarts let out a dry chuckle. "You really are something else."
Hades, however, was watching me with interest.
"Fascinating," he murmured. "I wonder… just how much do you know?"
I smirked. "Enough."
For a moment, our gazes locked.
Then—
Hades exhaled.
Magic exploded outward.
The sheer pressure slammed into us, forcing us back. The air itself trembled. The ship’s walls groaned under the weight of his power.
Ur gritted her teeth, barely holding her ground.
Gildarts chuckled, cracking his knuckles. "Heh. Guess we’re doing this the hard way."
I exhaled.
Hades’ grin widened, his magic rising.
