That Day When Suzuki-kun Wasn't the Mob-B! Chapter 463: The Door of Despair (Patreon)

While Finn dealt with the trouble within the palace dungeons, Lucy and her group had finally reached the courtyard housing the Eclipse Gate.

The massive, ancient doors were heavily guarded, surrounded by the Royal Army, Princess Hisui, and Fiore's top military brass. All of them were deeply invested in the kingdom's desperate plan to save the world.

"Come out. There is no need to hide anymore."

Lucy, Yukino, Wendy, Happy, and Carla had been crouching behind the courtyard bushes, doing their absolute best to observe the situation covertly. Unfortunately, they possessed zero stealth skills, and Arcadios, the hardened military commander of the Fiore Kingdom, had spotted them almost immediately.

"We won't arrest you," Arcadios stated, his voice flat. He didn't view the Fairy Tail mages as a genuine threat. To him, they were merely cogs in a much larger machine—pieces on a chessboard that couldn't disrupt the grand plan, even if they knew the truth of what was about to happen.

"Are you going to open the gate?" Lucy asked, stepping out of the foliage. She looked up at the towering, monolithic structure of the Eclipse Gate, a deep sense of unease settling in her chest.

"That's right," Princess Hisui nodded firmly, her eyes reflecting a heavy but resolute burden. "According to that man, this is the only way to save the world."

"Man?" Arcadios blinked, suddenly confused.

"Yes. A man claiming to be from the future came to me. He warned me about the impending disaster—a horde of ten thousand dragons. He swore that the Eclipse Gate was the only weapon capable of stopping them. He said it would function like a magical cannon, powerful enough to erase the dragons from existence."

"But... the person who warned me was a woman..." Arcadios muttered, his brow furrowing in deep suspicion.

Yet, despite the glaring discrepancy in their informants, it was too late to halt the operation. The plan had been set in motion. The massive reservoirs of magical energy required for the Eclipse Gate had already been fully charged during the Grand Magic Games.

Standing before the towering monument, Princess Hisui took a deep breath, fully prepared to fire the weapon that would bring an end to the impending tragedy.

At that exact moment, in the grand plaza in front of Mercurius Castle, King Toma E. Fiore stood before a massive assembly of soldiers and wizards. He had issued an emergency summons to every guild participating in the Grand Magic Games, begging them to gather and face the looming crisis.

"I am deeply sorry for calling all of you so suddenly!" King Toma shouted, bowing his head before the exhausted mages. "But please, I beg you! Help this kingdom! A crisis is upon us. A danger that threatens to wipe Fiore off the map will arrive tonight, and I desperately need your strength to stop it!"

Toma wasn't entirely sure what form the disaster would take, but Hisui had sworn the danger was imminent. Choosing to trust his daughter's judgment, he had swallowed his royal pride to plead for the wizards' aid.

"Don't worry about it! We'll be there to help you, King!"

"Yeah, this kingdom is our home!"

"We'll do everything we can to save it!"

Regardless of their guild affiliations, the mages roared in agreement. Toma's reputation as a benevolent ruler was well known, and frankly, no one doubted that the kingdom's treasury would generously reward them for their efforts. Even though their bodies ached from the brutal final battles of the Grand Magic Games, the wizards raised their weapons, ready to defend their home!

"Thank you...!" Toma whispered, moved to tears by their unwavering resolve. Yet, looking up at the night sky, a creeping dread pooled in his stomach. Just what kind of disaster could possibly destroy everything?

Back in the courtyard, the doors of the Eclipse Gate groaned as they slowly began to part. A blinding light poured from the widening crack, illuminating the palace grounds.

But the moment the gate began to open, an overwhelming, primal sense of terror violently gripped Lucy's heart.

"Close the gate!" Lucy screamed, her voice cracking with sheer panic.

"What?" Hisui looked at her, completely bewildered.

"Please! You have to close the door right now! It isn't a weapon—it's the source of the disaster!"

"No, you don't understand," Hisui argued desperately, refusing to halt the process. "This is a cannon! It's going to save us all!"

"No, it's a door!" Lucy shouted, tears welling in her eyes as the horrifying reality clicked into place. "It isn't a cannon meant to destroy the enemy! It's a doorway connected to four hundred years in the past! If you open it—!"

It was too late.

The heavy stone doors slid fully open, revealing a swirling, abyssal vortex. Before anyone could react, an immense, terrifying shadow breached the threshold. A colossal, scaled foot slammed onto the cobblestones, and a beastly roar tore through the night sky.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

A dragon.

An actual, living dragon from the ancient past had just stepped out of the gate. And it wasn't alone. The heavy, thudding footsteps of a second, then a third dragon echoed from the depths of the vortex, stepping through the portal one after another.

The Royal Army, Arcadios, and the Princess were entirely paralyzed, staring at the mythical beasts in a horrified daze. It felt like a waking nightmare.

"How do I close it?! Hurry up!" Lucy screamed, her voice finally snapping Hisui out of her trance.

"O-Over there...!" Hisui stammered, violently shaking as she pointed a trembling finger toward a pedestal near the gate. "That's the control mechanism...!"

Lucy sprinted toward the pedestal with everything she had, desperately trying to engage the closing sequence. But the doors were too massive, and the residual magic holding them open was too strong.

"Yukino, help me!"

Lucy didn't know exactly how she knew it would work, but she felt it in her soul. If she couldn't close the door manually, they would just have to use sheer, overwhelming magical force. Yukino rushed to her side without a second of hesitation.

The two Celestial Mages grasped each other's hands, linking their minds and magical circuits together. Pulling their golden keys, they synchronized their breathing and called upon the pinnacle of their magic!

"Come out!"

Their desperate plea echoed throughout the Celestial Spirit World. Answering the call of their masters, blinding golden lights erupted around the courtyard as all Twelve Zodiac Spirits materialized at the exact same time!

"Push!"

Roaring with effort, Taurus, Scorpio, Leo, and the rest of the Zodiacs threw their combined weight against the massive stone doors. Straining against the immense temporal pressure, the spirits slowly forced the heavy doors shut, sealing the vortex and cutting off the ancient past!

BOOM!

The Eclipse Gate finally slammed shut.

But the damage was already done. Several dragons had successfully crossed the threshold.

"It's me..." Hisui collapsed to her knees on the cobblestones, sobbing uncontrollably. The crushing weight of her guilt shattered her composure. She realized the horrifying truth—by naively trusting the words of a time-traveler, she was the one who had unleashed the apocalypse upon her own kingdom.

Lucy and Yukino had managed to stop the horde of ten thousand, but the dragons that had already slipped through were more than enough to bring about the end of the world.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

With an intense, deafening roar, the ancient beasts unleashed their wrath.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!

A blinding flash of dragon's breath swept across the horizon. A massive section of Mercurius Castle and the surrounding city district was instantly vaporized into a sea of molten rubble.

In that moment, staring at the burning ruins of their home, every mage and soldier realized the reality: if they didn't kill these dragons tonight, the world was officially over.