Fairy Tail: Strongest Creature

"What?!"

"Isn't our mission complete?!"

Su Yan smiled and asked, "Have you forgotten? What was the commission we received?"

Natsu slapped his palm against his forehead. "That's right! We're supposed to destroy the moon!!"

"To your sister!!" Su Yan snapped, uncharacteristically annoyed.

Even Lucy was taken aback, realizing that Su Yan rarely made such remarks.

"We're here to lift the curse on the villagers!!"

"But isn't Deliora dead? Wouldn't that lift the curse on the village?"

"Who ever said Deliora was connected to the curse?" Su Yan blinked.

"..."

Natsu and the others exchanged puzzled glances, suddenly realizing that no one had ever mentioned a direct link.

"If the curse was caused by Moon Drip and Deliora," Su Yan continued, "then Leon and his followers would have turned into monsters long ago."

"Then what's causing the curse?" Gray asked, turning to Leon.

Leon scowled. "How should I know? When we came to this island three years ago, we didn't even know there was a village. We never interfered with the villagers, and they never bothered us either."

Leon's frustration was evident. He had spent three years gathering moonlight to unseal Deliora, only to discover the demon was already dead. On top of that, he had been thoroughly beaten.

"What do we do now?" Lucy asked, worried again.

"Simple," Natsu declared. "We destroy the moon!"

Gray sighed in exasperation. "Do you have a personal grudge against the moon?!"

Su Yan chuckled. "Relax. Let's head back to the village. I know how to solve this."

Gray hesitated, then turned back to Leon. "Leon, you should consider joining a guild. There, you'll find comrades and rivals to push you forward. You might even find a new goal."

Leon turned his head aside. "Boring. Just leave already."

As Su Yan and the group approached the village, shouts echoed around them.

"Sir Su Yan has returned!"

"Village Chief! Lord Su Yan is back!"

Lucy cringed at the honorifics. "Lord Su Yan…? Did you terrify the entire village yesterday?"

The villagers, however, were visibly excited.

"Lord Su Yan, have you found a way to lift the curse?" the village chief asked with hope in his eyes.

Su Yan nodded confidently. "No problem. I know how to lift the curse."

"Really?!"

"That's great!!"

"Su Yan, how are you going to do it?" Natsu asked, confused.

Su Yan looked up at the sky and smiled. "It's simple. If there's a problem, we solve it at the source. Since the moon appears purple only here, all we need to do is… destroy the sky."

"What?!!!"

Everyone froze in shock at Su Yan's words.

"Om--!!"

Su Yan didn't bother explaining further. His body exuded an overwhelming wave of Conqueror's Haki, making everyone feel an immense sense of pressure. Fear surged through the hearts of the villagers.

The energy formed into a massive long sword of black and red aura above Su Yan's head.

"Cut----!!!"

Su Yan raised his right hand high, then brought it down in a powerful slash.

"Shhh--!!"

A violet slash of Conqueror's Haki streaked upward, slicing through the sky.

"Crack!"

Black-red lightning crackled across the heavens.

"Boom----!!"

The sky was torn open, leaving a massive rift.

"The… the sky… it's been split open!!!"

"Wait... what's that?!" Lucy exclaimed, noticing something strange.

The crack didn't heal but instead spread further, like shattered glass. Pieces began to fall, and soon the entire false sky collapsed.

The purple moon vanished, replaced by the normal moon shining its soft, silvery light. The moonlight bathed the island, gentle and serene, no longer ominous.

"What… what just happened?!"

Everyone turned to Su Yan, who smiled and explained, "It was simple. When Leon and the others gathered moonlight to condense Moon Drip, waste energy was produced. Over time, it crystallized in the sky above the island."

"During the day, it didn't affect sunlight. But at night, the light passing through the crystals created the illusion of a purple moon. Destroying the crystallized sky restored the natural light."

"But… the villagers," Gray interjected, looking at the still-demonic forms of the villagers. "They haven't turned back to normal."

"Happy" groaned in frustration. "So it didn't work after all?"

Su Yan smiled knowingly. "No, they've already returned to their original state. This is who they really are."

"What?!"

Su Yan continued, "During the day, they used transformation magic to appear human. But at night, the moonlight passing through the waste crystals weakened magic, disrupting their transformations and revealing their true forms."

Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and "Happy" froze, horrified as the realization dawned on them.

"You… you mean..."

Su Yan nodded. "Yes. They were demons to begin with."

"Eh----?!!!"