Devils Among Fairies

Chapter 4: Breaking the Ancient Chains

  (No one's p.o.v.)

  Zeref was absolutely stunned to hear that Asta suggested that he could break the Curse of Ankhseram using his and Liebe's Anti-magic. The Black Wizard asked in disbelief, "Are you serious? You really think you can remove a curse place on me by a god?" Liebe answered, "At full power, our Anti-magic allowed us to fight and kill even the highest ranked Devils. And in our world, High rank Devils are powerful enough to be considered gods to humans. So, it should be more than enough to remove a curse from a god." Zeref still couldn't believe that there was a chance that he could finally be free of the curse that plagued him for centuries. However, what Asta said next baffled the Black Wizard. "But, before we do, I want you to promise us one thing. Don't even think about killing yourself afterwards." Zeref asked, "What?" "I can read your Ki, and I know that you plan to kill yourself after the curse is lifted. I know that you've suffered so much that you don't see the point of living anymore. After all the people, plants, and animals that died just from being around, you feel that death is the only way to atone for the lives you think you took. But, you don't deserve to die for what your curse did." Asta stated. During their earlier conversation, the brothers told Zeref about their ability to sense Ki and it's known applications for it. So Zeref knew what Asta was talking about. "How can you say that I don't deserve to die for the lives I took? Even if I didn't do the deed with my own hands, I was still the one who took their lives. Their blood is on my hands, that won't change." Zeref retorted.

"Can you really say that it was you who kill them? Was it your intention to end their lives?" Asta's query struck a cord in the cursed wizard and he continued, "Your curse takes the lives of others when you care for their lives, so it's not you who kills it's your curse. And your curse was placed on you by Ankhseram, so in a way Ankhseram was the one who killed all those people. He takes the lives of everyone you care about to punish you for breaking his rules. So you have to understand, your not the one who murdered your teachers, your friends, or the girl you loved, it was Ankhseram. You only wanted to see your brother again, that is not a sin. Everyone wants to see their loved ones, you were no different. Despite the how many times everyone has tried to stop you Zeref, you never gave up on your goal of bringing your brother back to life. You are not an evil being who deserves to die, don't forget that."

  Zeref was shocked to hear this, for the first time since he met Mavis Vermillion, someone told him that he wasn't evil and that he doesn't deserve the cursed fate thrust upon him. Liebe chimed in by saying, "I honestly don't want you to die for doing nothing wrong. Plus, there was something I had thought about after I gained my Anti-magic. If I had been born with this power from the start, I could've broken my mom's curse and she'd be free to live around people without the fear of killing them. It was the one thing about this power that I hated. But, now I see this as an opportunity. I can break a curse similar to her's, and save someone from the same pain as our mom. It matters even more to me when it's one of the very few people who I consider a friend. So, I'd be happy to set you free, Zeref." The Black Wizard was even more shocked to hear a Devil say that he wanted to save him for his eternal suffering. Tears of joy began to form in his eyes as a small appeared on his face. Zeref said, "Thank you both, and I promise that I won't end my life after you lift my curse."

   (Asta's p.o.v.)

 
Liebe and I read Zeref's Ki as he made that promise, and we can tell he was being sincere. With that, I opened our grimoire and the Demon Destroyer Sword came out. "First let's see if we can break the Curse of Contradiction with Demon Destroyer in our base form. This should help us get a grasp of how power that curse really is." I said to our friend and he nodded as he stood still as I used Fate Release to remove Zeref's curse. It didn't have any effect sadly. I looked at Liebe and he had the same idea I did.

  We looked at Zeref and Liebe said, "Well Zeref, we now know how strong your curse is, and now we're going to use full power to see if it'll have an effect." He was puzzled by this and asked, "That wasn't your full strength? But I could feel an insane amount of power emanating from your sword just now as it entered my body." I answered, "That was merely the scraps of the excess power that trickles down from Liebe, his sweat you could say." He was alarmed by that and he said, "That energy was merely was only a tiny fraction of his full power? That's just insane!" Liebe had put a hand on my shoulder and we said in unison,

  "Devil Union!"

 

  (Zeref's p.o.v.)

  The moment they said, Devil Union, Asta and Liebe were encased by a sphere of Anti-magic and what looked like black lightning was emitted from it. It lasted for a few seconds until it bursted like a balloon and it revealed Asta in black and red armor with bat-like wings, five horns on his head, a long, spear-point tail, black hair, and red, cross slit eyes.

 

  I was very surprised by this as I had never seen anything like this before. I asked Asta, "What is this transformation? Where's Liebe?" He answered, "Devil Union is a special transformation available to Devil Hosts when they form a contract with their Devil. It works by fusing with the Host's Devil in both body and mind, allowing the host to use their contracted devil's power to it's full potential." He raised his sword and made touched me with the tip of it's blade as he said,

  "Demon Destroyer: Fate Release!"

  That was when far more Anti-magic than his last attempt erupt from the weapon and surround me. I felt it enter my body and it had removed something from within. When the power dissipated, I saw that Asta and Liebe were back to normal. "How do you feel?" The latter asked. I answered, "I can't really describe it, but feel like something is missing. Do you think the curse was broken?" He replied, "We could make a small scratch with our sword to see if it quickly heals. If not, then it proves the Curse of Ankhseram was purged." I nodded and I held out my hand to for them to make a small cut. They did an I winced from the pain. After an hour, we saw that it stopped bleeding at a normal speed. This proved that my curse had finally been lifted. I was so overjoyed began to cry and hugged the brothers while saying, "Thank you both. Thank you. Thank you so much for setting me free." They hugged back and replied, "You're welcome, Zeref."

  After that, I stayed on Tenrou Island and taught Asta and Liebe more about the world in which they found themselves, while also sparring with them to help further their skills. 'Finally, I'm free from my life of suffering and solitude. I haven't felt this much joy in a century.' I thought.