"Well then… bye-bye~"
Watching Erza desperately search for information, the girl chuckled softly, silently greeted her, then turned and walked away.
...
"Found it!"
Just then, Levy suddenly raised a book in delight and called out to everyone.
Hearing her voice, everyone quickly gathered around. Levy opened the heavy book and translated the ancient text written inside.
"There is only one forbidden ritual performed at the sacred land of the Celestial Spirits. It uses the 'Celestial Globe,' which has existed since the creation of the Celestial Spirit World, to swear an oath beneath the stars and give up the right to exist as stars in the new world. Once the ritual ends, the Celestial Spirits shall return to the mortal world…"
Gajeel frowned in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that if the Celestial Spirits use the Celestial Globe to perform this ritual, they really can obtain true freedom, just like they said," Galena thoughtfully translated for her old father.
"But that freedom comes with a price…"
Levy looked worriedly toward Lucy and continued, "After gaining that freedom, the Celestial Spirits will only have twelve days left to live."
Lucy could not help clenching her fists, her eyes darkening as she said, "How could that be? What's good about a ritual like that…"
Natsu and Naciel folded their arms and tilted their heads.
Clearly, both of them had only understood the conclusion, and they spoke in confusion.
"So as long as we get the Celestial Globe, this won't happen, right?"
Panther Lily nodded and asked Levy, "Does the book mention where the Celestial Globe is?"
Then Lily saw Levy's expression slowly turn strange as she looked at the contents of the book and said, "It does… A very long time ago, the archaeology guild excavated the Celestial Globe. Because the people at the time didn't know its exact function, they kept it in… the Magic Library!"
"Eh?"
Everyone froze at once.
Lucy said in surprise and delight, "Then isn't that right here? We can find the Celestial Globe first and take it away!"
"Great!"
Everyone looked happy, but when Erza heard this, her expression suddenly turned extremely ugly, as if she had realized something.
"What's wrong, Erza?" Lucy asked in confusion after noticing the change in her expression.
Erza gritted her teeth as the suspicious image of that girl flashed through her mind, along with the obviously bulging bag on her back.
Thinking of this, Erza turned and ran toward the library entrance. At the same time, she shouted back, "The Celestial Globe might have been taken. I'm going to confirm it!"
"What?"
However, Erza did not explain further. Her figure had already vanished into the distance.
"I'll go help Erza!"
Seeing this, Natsu quickly chased after her.
Gajeel figured that two rough types like him and Natsu would not be much help inside the library anyway, so he simply said to Levy, "You guys keep searching the library first. The Salamander and I will go help Erza confirm the situation. As for here…"
Garell swiftly took over with confidence. "We'll protect Mom and Auntie!"
Without noticing Levy's flushed face, Gajeel gave a strange laugh, roughly ruffled Garell's hair, and chased after Natsu.
In truth, Naciel and Garell were still quite a bit weaker than Natsu and Gajeel had been at the same age, but Gajeel was fairly reassured by his calm daughter.
At Galena's age, even Gajeel might not have had that level of combat strength.
...
The group at the library made their arrangements, while on Erza's side, she had already spotted the girl who had left earlier with the bag on her back.
"Wait! I have something to ask you!" Erza shouted at her.
The girl unhurriedly turned back and glanced at her, a smile appearing in her eyes. Then she actually stopped.
That made Erza, who had not been fully certain to begin with, start doubting herself even more.
"I'm sorry, this is very rude of me, but may I see the archaeological tools in your bag?"
Suspicion was suspicion, but Erza still wanted to confirm it. If it turned out to be a false alarm, then she could sincerely apologize afterward.
"No need. The bag contains the Celestial Globe."
The girl said this in a cheerful voice, and Erza almost failed to react.
A moment later, Erza hurriedly Requipped two knight swords and shouted sternly, "Who exactly are you?! Why did you steal the Celestial Globe?"
"Hehe. Beat me and I'll tell you."
The girl removed the bag and placed it behind her.
Then she slowly stretched a fair hand out from beneath her cloak. A long blade suddenly appeared in her grip as she spoke teasingly.
"Arrogant!"
Erza's eyes turned cold, and she rushed at the girl without hesitation, blades drawn.
The sword light fell like flowing radiance.
The girl gripped her blade in reverse, reacted quickly, and raised it to block Erza's attack. Their blades clashed, and sparks flew everywhere.
...
"Elysia?"
Ankh listened to Anmi talk about his daughter, and for a moment, his expression nearly broke.
As expected, that was definitely the kind of name only a genius like him would choose…
The members of Fairy Tail, currently visiting Sabertooth, were now inside the Sabertooth Grand Library, looking through materials.
Compared to the ancient and slightly worn Magic Library, the Sabertooth Grand Library was clearly maintained much better.
Sting was proudly introducing the deep collection of books that made his guild's library famous across the continent.
As long as one entered the keywords they wanted into the crystal ball at the center of the grand library, the specified books would automatically fly out. I
t was extremely convenient.
Cana and Wendy searched with great interest for things they wanted to know and indeed found many books they had never seen before.
Even Juvia found a book called How to Make an Ice Mage Who Likes Taking Off His Clothes Fall in Love with You, and she read it with great enthusiasm.
Only after a good while did everyone finally start handling serious business. As Ankh searched for information, he continued the previous topic with Anmi.
"Galena is already that strong, and you're no slouch either. How is Elysia the strongest of the new generation?"
Anmi shook his head.
A trace of fear even appeared in his eyes as he said, "That damn woman isn't human at all!"
Insulting his own sister came so naturally to him…
"My divine power was passed down to me by you, Father. It is the power of Chronoz, God of Space. But Elysia not only perfectly inherited both her parents' physiques and the divine power you passed down to her, she also attracted another divine inheritance entirely on her own!"
"She is the only mage in this world aside from you who can contain and master multiple divine powers at once!"
Ankh nodded thoughtfully.
He understood.
Anmi was essentially a god successor artificially created by him.
If he wanted to grow stronger, it mainly depended on how he developed the power of space in the future.
His potential was enormous.
Elysia, on the other hand, was the kind of person born with cheats.
Her battle system had already taken shape early, and her future was practically beneath her feet.
Grinju, who was standing nearby, also sighed and said faintly, "Honestly, in this era, it should be very easy for Elysia to beat her mom, Erza."
Anmi added, "As long as it isn't a life-or-death fight, the chances of Elysia losing are very low."
Ankh questioned this. "That's not necessarily true. Erza is… wait. Elysia is my and Erza's daughter?"
Anmi and Grinju looked at him with innocent eyes, wearing expressions that clearly said, 'You only realized that now?'