That Day When Suzuki-kun Wasn't the Mob-B! Chapter 462: Predators and Prey (Patreon)

"Now, it's over! Everyone will die! You won't have the power to change anything! Hahahahaha!"

Along with the eruption of magical energy and the deafening roar of impending disaster, Future Rogue—who had been beaten into silence out of sheer terror moments ago—suddenly erupted into manic, desperate laughter.

"And I will make sure you die in the most agonizing way imaginable! You will watch your loved ones be taken and slaughtered right in front of you!"

Shudder.

Lisanna and Future Lucy physically recoiled, terrified by the sheer, unhinged madness radiating from the time traveler who had orchestrated this apocalypse.

"You sure are brave to say that to me." 

"Are you regretting making an enemy of me?!" Future Rogue felt a sense of thrill, as he heard Finn's words. 

Yet, Finn just smiled. A cold, hollow smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Don't worry. I will make sure you die in the most painful way, too, as I take everything you care about, Rogue. That little Exceed of yours might make a decent snack for the beasts in the forest. Let's see how long your precious cat cries while being torn apart by hungry monsters."

"....."

This time, it wasn't just a shudder sweeping the room; it was absolute, paralyzing terror.

"You... you...!" Future Rogue choked out, the manic glee instantly draining from his face. He could tell Finn knew exactly who he was talking about. Though Rogue hailed from a doomed future, his origins were exactly the same—he had fallen to darkness precisely because he lost his beloved Frosch.

"Don't test me." Finn stepped forward, staring deep into Future Rogue's trembling eyes. "You think you're some grand mastermind? You're just a clown playing with forces you don't understand. You came from the future, right? Once I secure the Eclipse Gate, I'll pry open the door to tomorrow just to hunt you down there, too."

"What?!"

Future Rogue couldn't process the sheer, suffocating malice in those words. Before he could even open his mouth to retaliate, Finn's hand shot out and seized his throat. There was a sickening crunch. Rogue thrashed for a fraction of a second, his eyes rolling back as his spine gave way.

He was dead in an instant.

His lifeless body slumped to the stone floor. As Future Rogue perished, Finn activated Archive Magic—one of the most prized and versatile utility magics in existence—to extract and absorb all the memories trapped within the man's fading mind. It was the exact same magic that made Hibiki of Blue Pegasus entirely irreplaceable, and in Finn's hands, it was an efficient tool.

"...You killed him?" Future Lucy whispered, staring at the corpse in an absolute daze.

"Yes." Finn glanced at her casually, brushing off his hands. "Did you need him alive for something? Blame him for threatening the things I care about."

Frankly, Finn felt the time-traveling Rogue was entirely useless. Did this guy really think he could gloat and spit threats just because his artificial disaster was finally arriving? Finn knew perfectly well what the Eclipse Gate was. Instead of serving as a time machine to let humanity assassinate Zeref in the past, it was a one-way door bringing a horde of ancient dragons into the present. The resulting disaster was destined to leave barely five percent of humanity alive.

Rogue was only confident he could survive the siege of ten thousand dragons because he possessed Dragon Supremacy Magic—a lost art that allowed him to exert control over the beasts.

But now, the so-called mastermind was dead in the dirt.

At the same time, Finn couldn't help but inwardly criticize Natsu's canonical reaction. In the original timeline, when Future Rogue murdered this very Lucy, Natsu simply beat him up. He spared the man who murdered his closest friend. Finn found that utterly baffling and dangerously naive.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Finn turned his attention toward the massive surges of magical energy echoing from outside the castle walls. "So, do you know exactly what this guy was planning to do?"

"Ah!" Future Lucy violently shook her head, forcing herself to look away from Rogue's corpse. Honestly, if this man's death meant stopping the apocalypse, she couldn't bring herself to mourn him. "He wants to bring ten thousand dragons from the past into this era! They are going to slaughter everyone! We have to stop it, or else... everyone is dead!"

"Dragons..." Lisanna murmured, entirely dumbfounded. She stared down the corridor toward the outside world, where the silhouette of a titanic beast suddenly eclipsed the sky. An absolute terror ran down her spine—the biological instinct of prey realizing a supreme predator had just entered the ecosystem. "Finn..."

"You have to stop it..." Future Lucy sobbed. Watching the sky darken and hearing the apocalyptic roars of the beasts that had ruined her world, she felt a crushing wave of despair. It was too late. No one could defeat an army of dragons, not even the Dragon Slayers. Everyone was going to die.

"Your present self is out there trying her best to close the gate right now," Finn noted calmly.

"But... the dragons..."

Future Lucy looked up at Finn. He didn't look afraid. He didn't look frantic. Instead, he exuded an overwhelming aura of absolute control.

"Don't worry. I am here," Finn said gently, his voice cutting through her panic. "Just stay here where it's safe, and thank you for coming all the way from the future to warn us."

She had traveled through time for the exact same reason Rogue had, but with a noble heart—to warn the past about the Eclipse Gate. Sadly, history was already repeating itself.

But the only difference in this timeline was Finn. Because he was here, that tragedy would never come to pass.

Instead of a tragedy, what happened next was—

"Ah, Lisanna! What is happening out there?!"

Mirajane came sprinting around the corner, having sensed the immense shift in magical pressure. She was frantic to find her little sister. Yet, the moment she laid eyes on Lisanna—who was still being held securely in Finn's arms—the dread instantly evaporated, replaced by a blistering, overprotective fury.

"You bastard! How dare you take advantage of my sister during a crisis?!" Mirajane shrieked, her demonic aura flaring for an entirely different reason.

"..........."

Finn, Lisanna, and Future Lucy all stared at her in deadpan silence.

"...Is this really the time for this?" Finn asked dryly.

The literal danger was descending upon the capital in the form of a dragon invasion, and Mirajane was more concerned with the fact that he was hugging her sister.

Finn sighed, tightening his arm around Lisanna as the distant roars of the dragons shook the castle's foundation. Looking toward the open sky, a faint, predatory smile formed on his lips.

With the Eclipse Gate wide open... I wonder how many dragons I can collect today.