Fairy Tail: You said you were just acting, are you serious

"Since you're not even going to tell me why you're here, why should I?"

Ron stood atop the giant bird, looking down at Ultear and rejecting her.

Ultear's brows furrowed even deeper, and a powerful surge of magical energy began to erupt from within her body.

"That way, after I defeat you, I'll make you confess willingly!"

With a wave of her hands, she instantly conjured dozens of crystal balls in mid-air.

These crystal balls hurtled towards Ron with incredible speed, tearing through the sky.

Phew~!

Faced with the dense barrage of crystal balls, he maneuvered the giant bird beneath his feet, folding its wings to dodge the attacks in mid-air, dodging all of them while drawing an arc.

During this time, Ron unrolled the scroll and began to sketch lines with his brush.

After dodging the attacks, he began casting his spell once the bird had regained its balance.

Choo Choo Choo!

A dozen or so small, ink-wash-like birds burst from the scroll, flapping their wings and swooping down at lightning speed toward Ultear below.

Urudia stretched out her hands toward the ink-wash birds that flew over, locking her gaze onto each one.

"Turning to the future."

Invisible magical ripples spread through the air instantly. The moment the ink-wash birds came into contact with the ripples, time was rapidly accelerated, and they evaporated in the air, about to disappear into nothingness.

However, the moment the bird evaporated, Urutia's pupils suddenly contracted.

Several dark objects continued to fly towards her at the same speed, and there were even several spheres hidden inside the birds!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The magical clay gave Ultear no time to react; several spheres exploded one after another the instant they approached her!

The explosion created thick smoke, preventing Ron, high in the air, from assessing Ultear's condition.

Just then, a dozen more crystal balls came hurtling towards Ron from the smoke, causing his pupils to shrink and him to quickly maneuver the giant bird away again.

Urudia escaped from the smoke, narrowly escaping the blast radius, but was still affected by the aftershocks, and the edges of her cloak were torn.

Her face was still covered in dust, making her look a bit disheveled.

So that's how it is. So this is that bastard's attack magic?

Urudia smiled slightly, knowing that she would know how to guard against her next.

After dodging the attack, Ron was attacked by a dozen more birds, but this time it was different.

With a wave of her hand, this time the dozen or so ink-wash birds and the magical clay hidden on her body evaporated and returned to sand.

Before they even got close to Urutia, they fell to the ground and turned into fragments of black lumps and sand.

Ron, who was dodging attacks high in the air, frowned as he looked at Ultear, who had only suffered minor injuries.

"Is the dosage still too low?"

He had only intended to knock her unconscious, but he had overestimated himself.

Now that Chu Jian is gone, it should be even harder to hurt her.

Now that Ultear has joined the Demon Heart, she has learned the Lost Magic: Arc of Time, a magical ability that is somewhat troublesome.

This magic is ineffective against living beings, but it is very effective against non-living beings, and can neutralize their ranged attacks.

The giant bird beneath him would also be affected; if it were struck by her arc of time, it would instantly dissipate. Once he lost air superiority, things would be even more complicated.

Ron pondered for a while, then finally controlled the giant bird to create even more distance between himself and Ultear.

Seeing Ron's actions, Ultear's concerns lessened considerably.

It seems that this mage has run out of other options, which is why he decided to resort to this roundabout approach.

Just as Ron had predicted, he began to control the giant bird to circle around.

As he circled, Ron reached out and threw out several kunai with magical clay attached to their ends, attempting to attack again.

"The same method didn't work on me!"

Urudia used one hand to deflect the kunai that was shot at her, and it dissipated into the air once again.

With her other hand, she continued to extend more crystal balls, attacking Ron.

At this moment, a back-and-forth battle of offense and defense was taking place on the open ground, with one side attacking and then dodging, and the other side attacking and then neutralizing the attacks.

Just then, Ultear realized that Ron's magic power seemed to be running out, and he began to panic, his attacks becoming somewhat chaotic.

Most importantly, Ron didn't notice that the giant bird beneath his feet was getting closer and closer to Ultear.

Ultear's unfathomable magical power meant she wasn't afraid of Ron depleting it. She quietly waited for an opportunity to defeat Ron instantly without him even noticing.

During one of Ron's attacks, Ultear suddenly found an opportunity.

"Got you? Time to move on to the future!"

Seeing that the giant bird had come within her casting range, she quickly sent a magical ripple towards it.

The giant ink-colored bird didn't even have time to utter a mournful cry before it instantly turned into dry, black fragments, which drifted away from Ron on the cold wind.

Ron's pupils contracted as he was pulled down from the bird, losing his footing and falling from the sky.

Ultear's face lit up with joy, and she quickly crossed her hands, unleashing an ice-blue magic circle at Ron's landing point.

"Ice-themed Prison!"

Countless tiny icicles rose from the snow, opening their mouths wide towards Ron, quickly surrounding him in mid-air where he had nowhere to get a foothold, completely trapping him in an ice cage.

Ultear took a deep breath, smiled slightly at Ron inside the cage, and prepared to mock this rude bastard.

She paused slightly when she looked at the trapped boy through the gaps in the icicles.

The boy inside the cage showed no panic whatsoever. Instead, he tilted his head slightly and gave her that fake smile again.

"What are you laughing at?!"

Urutia felt a sense of foreboding.

Bang!

Before he finished speaking, "Ron" in the cage suddenly expanded his body until it exploded, turning into pitch-black ink!

The large burst of ink sprayed out through the cracks in the icicles and splashed onto Urutia's face, who was standing nearby!

"what!"

The sudden ink blurred Ultear's vision and also stained her face black.

After her vision was taken away, she took a few steps back in a panic and subconsciously raised her hand to wipe her eyes.

"You bastard who only knows how to hide behind someone's back and throw things, come out here if you dare!"

The next second, a cold touch gently pressed against the side of her neck, and a calm, youthful voice sounded behind her.

"You don't naively think I'm only good at ranged attrition warfare, do you?"

Before she knew it, the real Ron had silently appeared behind her, holding a strange blade to her neck.