A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

boom!

With a loud bang, crimson flames engulfed the magic book, instantly reducing the old book to ashes.

Natsu wiped his sweat: "Is everything alright now?"

“Natsu… Natsu…”

Happy's trembling voice startled Natsu. Looking up, he saw that under the cover of night, the ashes that should have vanished with the wind had actually gathered again, slowly forming an oval black vortex three meters high and one meter wide using the dark magic within.

Immediately afterwards, countless white spirits surged out from it and drifted away in all directions of Magnolia.

"Midnight, inhuman monsters..."

"A soul that cannot truly die..."

The human and the cat turned stiffly to look at each other, only to find that the other was now trembling all over, completely lacking its usual composure: "Haha...it's just a ghost...haha...there's nothing to be afraid of...haha..."

"That's right... I'm not afraid at all..."

next moment……

Run!!!

The two turned and ran, their speed kicking up clouds of dust. After tumbling in the wind, they landed on their clothes, which were soaked with cold sweat.

"Wait... Could it be that Lucy was kidnapped by them?!"

Thinking of this, Natsu was no longer afraid. The look of fear on his face was quickly replaced by seriousness. He stopped in his tracks, turned around, and rushed towards the black vortex: "Hand over Lucy!"

Physical attacks like punches obviously cannot hit spirits; Natsu missed and fell to the ground.

"Damn it! I can't hit them!"

Happy flew over after them: "Of course, after all, the other party is a ghost!"

"Since that's the case..."

Natsu clenched his fists in frustration, and two seconds later, he decisively picked up Happy and ran away!

"Let's retreat first!"

Habi Σ(っ°Д°;)っ: "Eeeeeeeeeee???!!!"

……

"They didn't catch up, did they?"

"Natsu, why did you run away?"

"Of course it's because we can't hit them! Besides, judging from what just happened, they don't seem to have the ability to attack people, so Lucy's disappearance might not be related to them. If Lucy disappeared because of them, it means something similar happened while we were unconscious! And everyone in the guild would definitely have noticed that commotion. With them there, nothing should have happened..."

Happy, sticking out his tongue, muttered, "Natsu has become so smart today, it's unbelievable! Could it be that this curse increases intelligence?"

despair!

As Natsu was walking forward, he felt something step on it. Looking down, he saw that the spellbook he had burned earlier was lying on the ground unharmed.

"Aaaaaah!!! It happened again!!!"

"A paranormal event!!! This is definitely a paranormal event like those in urban legends!!!"

In a moment of desperation, Natsu bent down, grabbed the spellbook from the ground, and threw it forcefully into the distance!

Thump!

The spellbook fell into the river that runs through Magnolia with a soft sound and a few splashes of water.

In the blink of an eye, the paper was soaked by the river, and the strange characters on it quickly fell off, floating in the air with the help of dark magic. After a brief transformation and reorganization, they turned into another magic circle.

"not good!"

Amid exclamations of alarm, the phrase "The second stage of terror will begin once it gets wet" simultaneously flashed through Natsu's and Happy's minds.

"The terror of the second phase!!"

"This seems to be even more troublesome now!!"

Strange, dark green runes and malevolent, dark magic resonated with the "water" that caused the change, coalescing into a ball of magical light. Simultaneously, the curse runes etched on Natsu and Happy's foreheads flew out on their own, striking the ball of light. The ball of light split in two, landing and transforming into two pitch-black figures with the same silhouettes as Natsu and Happy.

"What is this? It looks a lot like us!"

"Could it be that this magic is to create a copy of a cursed person, making us fight ourselves?"

Seeing Happy becoming increasingly uneasy, Natsu immediately bent down and comforted him, "It's okay, Happy!"

"Natsu..."

"Curses or ghosts, as long as we're together, there's no opponent we can't defeat! We're Fairy Tail mages!!!"

The encouragement from his partner during the difficult time finally cheered Happy up after being troubled by the magic book all day.

"Hey!"

With a long howl, Happy grabbed Natsu and flew towards the shadowy figure. The shadowy Happy and the shadowy Natsu rushed over, their fists, like reflections in a mirror, colliding in mid-air and igniting intense, red and black flames.

On the ground, the two Natsu were locked in combat, unleashing punches, kicks, elbows, headbutts, and claw attacks in succession; in the air, the two Happy also unleashed their special moves, with cat claw attacks, backpack attacks, bites, and collisions coming one after another, creating a chaotic scene.

Thump thump thump...slap slap slap...plop plop plop...

"The fighting styles are exactly the same..."

The opponent's formidable strength and the dark magic shrouding the streets filled Natsu with anxiety. What worried him even more was that the continuous sounds of battle hadn't woken anyone up!

In this situation, either the space has been sealed off, or something has happened to everyone!

Just then, the shadowy figure suddenly moved!

But his target wasn't Natsu and Happy, but... their shadows on the ground!

tread!

Under the bright moonlight, the other person's feet landed precisely on their own shadow.

Instantly, Natsu felt a sharp pain as if a sword had pierced his heart, and the phrase "Those whose shadows are stepped on will suffer a sword piercing their hearts" flashed through his mind.

In the dead of night, a sharp scream pierced the sky.

"what!!!"

The pain in his own body was bearable, but Naz's expression changed drastically when he heard Happy's voice: "Happy! Are you alright?!"

"No...it's nothing..."

Natsu went closer to check and found that Happy was in the same situation as him: "No wounds, but you can feel pain. Is this a curse?"

His intuition told him that in the coming days, the "curses" in the books would reappear one by one!

The shadow darted forward again, but this time Natsu was on guard. He retreated abruptly, moving his shadow to dodge the opponent's attack, while his eyes searched for the opponent's shadow.

Just then, the shadowy figure stopped moving again.

"A great opportunity!"

Seizing the opening, Natsu charged in the opposite direction, swinging his fists in attack, but the shadowy figure didn't react at all, just staring intently at Natsu who was closing in.

Those seen moving will be struck ten thousand times with a hammer.

Bang!

The immense force from the side sent Natsu flying several meters before he crashed to the ground, shattering it with a loud thud!

"Natsu!!"

After exclaiming in surprise, Happy rushed over to check on you, "Are you alright?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine!"

The opponent was truly unpredictable, and the current situation had unfolded so suddenly that Happy suggested, "Natsu, why don't we retreat first? This situation is clearly beyond our capabilities..."

"I don't want to!" Natsu dusted himself off and stood up again. "Happy, do you remember that line from the book?"

Happy was taken aback: "What?"

"The transformation between hunter and prey happens in an instant!!"

Natsu grinned, his face full of fighting spirit, and clashed his fists together in front of his chest, flames flying.

"Round two has begun! Let's go!"

"Hey!"

Chapter 285 The Cursed Spellbook (4)

In the second round, Natsu was no longer intimidated. After the previous exchange, he had figured out his opponent's attack patterns, or rather, his opponent's attack patterns were very similar to his own, so he could deal with them with ease.

"Only by understanding yourself well can you become stronger!"

Perhaps Natsu was strong enough, or perhaps the shadow itself was too weak. This battle was decided in less than five minutes. Under Natsu's powerful and fiery punches, the shadow quickly disappeared without a trace.

"What... the terror of the second stage... is nothing special!"

After dealing with the enemy, Natsu and Happy sat down by the roadside again to analyze the current situation. "But, this is troublesome! We made such a commotion, and no one has come out yet. It seems that, just as we thought, everyone in town has disappeared, and we are the only two left in Magnolia!"

"Is this the curse of the spellbook? The so-called 'the gears of fate will be set in motion at dusk' refers to the time when the curse begins, which is when we went to Hope's Hut. While we were unconscious, the others in Magnolia were taken away by the curse to some unknown place!"

Natsu turned around and looked around, then reached into a corner and pulled out a spellbook that had appeared out of nowhere: "Think again, what else has appeared in this?"

Harpy pondered for a moment and said, "Hmm... I remember there was something like 'Don't look up at the moon'."

At this point, the two of them simultaneously looked up at the sky: "It looks like something terrible... is going to happen after we see it..."

"..."×2

"It's all over!!!"

"I can see the moon!!!"

Happy the cat frantically scurried around, asking, "What will happen if we see the moon?! Will we transform? Kira said some people turn into giant monsters when they see the moon! Will we become monsters?"

"No...don't worry...Happy..."

Natsu, sweating profusely, reassured Kira, "The monsters that Kira talked about that can transform are fake! Besides, they come from outer space, we're just ordinary humans and cats! And they only transform when they see a full moon, which isn't a full moon right now! Also, they have tails, we don't..."

"Tail...tail!!!" Happy completely ignored the previous rambling, and panicked again the moment he heard "tail." "I have a tail!! And I'm from Edolas, so in some ways we're similar!! You know, Kira's stories are mostly based on real-life events!!"