Fairy Tail: I'm Not the Most Terrifying Mage

The air is filled with fragrance, but if you inhale it too much, your body will immediately mutate, either turning you into a demon or causing your body to collapse and die.

A land cursed by the gods.

Or--

Herames's home.

Countless ferocious-looking demons silently watched the outsiders.

"So you've come, and in this manner no less. Are you cursed by the gods?" A demon stepped forward from the crowd; it was none other than Avtetari, whom he had met once before.

"Two?" he asked, slightly puzzled.

"Humans, what are you doing here?" a demon asked.

“Let’s do something that everyone feels is a win-win situation,” Yevlit said.

"Heh heh." The demons laughed.

“I will free you, and you will save my life,” Yefrit said calmly. “How about it?”

"what?"

Suddenly, a demon approached Yefrit in an instant. Its enormous body, as large as a dragon, was so close that an ordinary person would have been so frightened that they would have lost their footing, but Yefrit didn't even blink.

"Liberation?" The demons grew angry, their ugly faces contorting into a grotesque grimace. "You want to kill us?"

'clatter'

At that moment, a hand was placed on Yefried's shoulder.

Behind him, as the seven-colored light gradually faded, a stunningly beautiful face gradually emerged from the shadows.

Those deep black eyes, though showing no sign of aggression, seemed to possess a black hole-like suction force, drawing the souls of any being who met their gaze into the black hole, leaving them with only an empty shell.

All the demons were stunned.

Then, the arms wearing white, fluffy arm sleeves gradually came into view.

Head—Neck—Arms—Shoulders—Upper Body

A demon girl modeled after a moth gradually appears in this world.

It is two meters tall and entirely white.

It has two wings on its back and four arms.

She wore a long dress and looked graceful.

Miko looked calmly at the demon that was frightening Yefrit and said, "You dare to frighten my Yefrit."

The demon's body froze, and its enormous, dragon-like form trembled.

The other demons were also terrified.

“Miko, it’s alright, we just asked for help.” Yefrit reached out and placed his hand on the back of Miko’s hand, which was resting on his shoulder, and comforted him, “Don’t be angry.”

"Your Majesty Herhames!"

All the demons were so frightened that they knelt down.

The man who had frightened Yefrit knelt deeply on the ground, his body trembling like a leaf.

Miko looked up into the distance, her eyes filled with a complex expression.

"Did you remember something?" Yefried asked.

“No—” Miko shook her head: “I am not Herames, I don’t need to remember anything.”

She explained, "I'm just like you, feeling a bit sentimental."

Miko didn't actually dislike Heramus; she had no ill feelings towards the name Heramus or the person herself.

But this person must be someone she wants to distance herself from.

Because—Miko is the Miko of Yefrit, but Heramus is not. Since she is not, then there is no need for Heramus to have survived to this day.

Miko didn't care what Herames thought or did back then, or what secrets she kept. It didn't matter to her.

The focus is on the present.

She is Miko, the Miko who was Helamos in the past, not—Hlamos is the Miko of the present and even the future.

“Where is Herames’s laboratory?” Yefrit asked.

"Over there."

A demon points the way.

Yefrit stepped forward, and the demons quickly made way for her.

"How much do you know about what's happening outside?" Yefried asked as they walked.

“We don’t know; we’ve hardly ever left this place since we became aware of it,” the demons replied.

"Why?" Yefried asked.

“We are beings forsaken by the gods, beings of original sin, and—Her Majesty Herames does not want us to cause her trouble.”

"How did you become demons? Was it a human mutation, or were you created out of thin air?"

"We are the embodiment of magic."

“I see.” Yefrit understood.

The demons created by Herames were created out of thin air; they were aggregates of magic, true primordial natural demons.

They are neither good nor evil, and cannot even be considered living beings—

It would be more accurate to describe it as a disaster or a natural phenomenon.

They are like the fog and rain in nature, only they are more concentrated and possess intelligence.

When Yefrit and Miko first met, the most important part of the contract they signed was to help her send off the demon. Sending off meant dismantling the demon's body, transforming it into pure magic, and returning it to the world.

Some incomplete historical records say that this was a mission given to her by God, and that when she completed her mission, she would be able to enter God's kingdom.

So--

What if we don't see God as a villain, but rather as an entity that maintains order?

All of Miko's instinctive logic seemed to make sense.

In the previous era, the mage Heramus felt that truth was too far away and life was finite, so she studied demons and turned herself into a demon.

In order to maintain order in the world, or rather, to punish those who have done wrong, God punished her and made her atone for her mistakes.

You made the mess, so you have to clean it up yourself.

and so--

Yefrit had previously misunderstood that Miko's mission was to completely destroy the demons in the Book of Zeref.

But in fact--

Miko wants to destroy the demon she created and atone for her mistakes.

“If that’s the case,” Future Yefrit said, “if the curses really offset each other, could it restore Miko and awaken Herames?”

This is indeed a very worrying thing.

Miko remained silent. In fact, she was sensing her physical condition, which seemed to be slowly recovering, or rather—her body was awakening.

“No rush,” Yefrit said. “Let’s go check out the lab first.”

Yefrit continued, "How much do you know about Herames?"

The demons glanced at Miko and noticed that she was very close to this man.

They had no choice but to answer, and dared not hide anything.

That was an era before the dragons ruled.

How ancient must it have been before dragons even ruled?

"We don't know much about Her Majesty Herame's childhood, but she was a... terrifying person."

The demons recounted in detail what they knew.

Herami's image gradually became more three-dimensional.

What's even more surprising is the time.

That was the era before that, more than seven hundred years ago.

In that era, humans were no weaker than dragons, and they mainly used alchemy; magic had not yet become mainstream.

However, the extensive development of alchemy would be a burden on the entire world.

Alchemy is different from magic; it requires more than just magical energy.

As alchemy reached its peak, even small worlds could be created, but at the same time, the world's resources were exhausted.

It's like the magic of Nirvana—creating a city in the sky requires resources that are so exaggerated they're incalculable.

For the sake of humanity's future, the sages of that era had no choice but to study magic—developing and cultivating one's own magic was far less of a burden on the world than alchemy.

To encourage those who were unwilling to abandon alchemy, the sages said: "The end of magic also leads to the door of truth. We must explore the abyss of magic for the sake of humanity's longevity."

The two Yefrits exchanged a glance, thinking to themselves: So this is where the saying "the abyss of truth and evil" comes from.

Heramus was born in this environment.

She was a wealthy heiress who displayed extraordinary talent from a young age, but she had an eccentric temperament, disliked socializing, and only cared about studying alchemy and magic.

By the time she had just come of age, she had already reached the world's top level of knowledge.

But she never shared her findings with the outside world.

To her, humanity was irrelevant; she simply wanted to see how many steps there were on the ladder, and how far away truth and God were.

Her personality can be summed up in one word—ruthless.

Because they are ruthless, they don't care about the consequences of their actions.

Because she didn't care, she created these demons out of thin air, yet she brutally exploited them, behaving like a tyrant.

But she wasn't short-tempered; she was just ruthless.