A magic power piques Ben's interest and he knows whose magic power it is. This is from someone he doesn't like, so he immediately goes to the source of this magic power, leaving the celebration with the townfolks.
"What are you doing here, Zeref?" asks Ben who has teleported to the forest.
The source of that magic power is Zeref, that's why Ben immediately came here. Mavis has come here before Ben and he knows why she's here because she has told a few things to him. But he doesn't care about it and only looks at Zeref.
"It's you again. I've realized that you're strong, but I never thought that you would be able to slay real Dragons alone," says Zeref.
"So what will you do about it? Do you want to kill me?" asks Ben.
"I might need to do it because you can become a bigger threat than Acnologia," says Zeref.
Ben scoffs when he hears that, "You talk as if you're different from him. In my eyes, you are just as bad as him. Both of you are threats to this world."
"Threats? To who? Humans? Humans are the real threats to this world. They do whatever they like and endanger this world," says Zeref before Ben stops him.
"Stop! I don't want to hear your twisted ideal that came from your twisted mind. You just want to justify your own actions and make everyone looks bad. Do you even know what an endangered world really looks like? You don't know shit," says Ben who knows how bad the Earth where he came from compared to this world.
"It seems your view on humans and my view are different," says Zeref.
"There's no doubt about it," says Ben firmly.
Ben & Zeref just look at each other for a while without saying anything. Then Ben suddenly appears in front of Zeref and sends a punch. But then the time suddenly stops with only Zeref can move in that stopped time.
He smiles and looks at the frozen Ben while trying to say something. But he can't say anything because his face suddenly gets punched. Out of his expectation, Ben can move in the frozen time and punches his face.
Zeref gets flung quite far and crashes onto the many trees before stopping. His time freeze spell also disappears because he can't maintain it any longer. Ben just stands there while watching the surprised Zeref.
"I won't fall to the same trick twice," says Ben.
Mavis also seems surprised because she knows what happened. She has known Zeref for a long time and this is the first time she sees his time-freeze spell gets broken forcefully.
"Not so tough, aren't you?" asks Ben as he walks slowly toward Zeref.
"A true Dragon Slayer is really different," says Zeref while wiping the blood coming out of his nose.
"How about we finish everything here, Zeref?" asks Ben.
"I don't mind, but are you sure about that?" asks Zeref back.
"So you want to use 'that' to threaten me, huh?" asks Ben again.
"It seems you know about it," says Zeref.
"Yeah, I always feel something strange from Natsu's body. Then it became clear when Lucy told me about it after she was told by her future self," says Ben.
"You know about it, but you still want to kill me now? I don't mind being killed as it is one of my goals, but are you fine with that?" asks Zeref.
"Well, I might not be able to kill you for that reason, but I surely can beat you up till you beg for mercy," says Ben while cracking his neck.
Zeref smiles thinly and says, "If it's someone else who says it, then I won't believe it. But the one who has slain real Dragons surely has the credibility to say that. Too bad though, this is not the time yet."
After he said that, Zeref suddenly disappears as a black orb covers his body. Ben tries to attack him, but he has gone already. Zeref has learned from his mistake in the past when Ben still could hit him before he entered his black orb.
"Damn, he escapes," says Ben disappointedly.
Mavis approaches him and asks, "Ben, what were you talking with Zeref about Natsu before?"
Ben looks at her for a moment before saying, "First Master, before I tell you, I need you to promise 1 thing to me. Never tell anyone about what I'm about to tell you."
"Alright, I will never tell it to anyone," says Mavis when suddenly a magic circle appears below her & Ben.
It is a magic contract that Ben made and it gets activated as soon as Mavis agrees.
Mavis is surprised by it and asks, "Do you need to go this far?"
"I am," says Ben as he creates a soundproof barrier around them.
"What I'm about to tell you might make our guild break apart, after all," says Ben.
Mavis now gets very serious and she even adds the barrier's power to make sure that nothing will leak out.
After Mavis nods, Ben drops the bomb, "Natsu is a Demon from the Book of Zeref. He is the best creation of Zeref that we all know as E.N.D which is the abbreviation of Etherious Natsu Dragneel."
This is not the bomb that Mavis ever expected and she's really shocked by this.
Mavis then says with widened eyes, "That's.... It is surely a big problem that can split our guild apart. Not only our guild but the entire Ishgar will get affected by it. E.N.D has been known to be the worst Demon from Books of Zeref, and has become the target of extermination for a long time."
Ben nods, "That's right, but I am not a believer in the saying that all Demons are evil. I have known Natsu for years and I am sure that he never pretended to be good. He is just a pure-hearted idiot who always wants to be strong. I don't know if I've told this to you, but I have a demon friend in the past who has passed away years ago. From him, I learned that Demons also have hearts and feelings like us."
"So I always thought that only Etherious Demons are purely evil, but it seems I was wrong. Even Etherious Demons still have hearts. It's just that they were made to be evil and most of them follow the purposes of their creations. But Natsu seems to be different and maybe there are other Etherious like him. I never met them though, but there's always a possibility," says Ben.
Mavis understands it well so far, so Ben continues, "It is still my speculation, but I think the reason why Natsu can be like that is because he is E.N.D. We know that E.N.D is Zeref's best creation, so maybe that's why he is different from other Etheriouses. Besides, he was raised by a Dragon, so I think that Igneel might've done something too."
"That makes sense and I agree with you. I also don't want to judge him just because he is an Etherious. But I still can't understand why it prevented you from killing Zeref. I'm sure you know that Zeref can't be allowed to stay in this world like this," says Mavis.
"It's not that I don't want to, it's because I can't. All Etheriouses' lives are connected to Zeref. So if I kill him right now, Natsu will also die," says Ben, surprising Mavis so much.
"T-then, what should we do?" asks Mavis worriedly.
"I need to sever their connection before killing Zeref. To do that, I need to find the Book of E.N.D first and rewrite it. Then I also need to do something about Natsu's Demon Seed because future Lucy said that he was transforming into a Demon in the future," says Ben.
"Do you know where the book is?" asks Mavis.
"I have a hunch, but I won't rely on it too much. I will try to find a solution without that book's help," says Ben.
"Phew, alright. It might sound pathetic, but I will leave it to you. Also, who knows about this now?" asks Mavis.
"Only you, me, and Lucy know about this right now. I haven't even told Master Makarov yet. Future Lucy told our Lucy about it and Lucy told me about this because it's what her future self asked her to do because she thought that I could solve this with the best solution," says Ben.
Mavis nods in understanding and they end their conversation. Ben didn't intend to tell Mavis about this, but Mavis knows Zeref more than him. So maybe she will be able to help even a little. Anyway, Ben has another big job to do after he just finished another big job.
He still intends to kill Zeref because it will erase all Etherious Demons that threaten this world. There might be other good Etheriouses like Natsu, but the chance is very low and he doesn't know them, so he doesn't really care. But first, he needs to find a solution and sever Natsu's connection to Zeref.
______________________________________________
You can read up to 35+35 chapters ahead of my fanfics and more pictures on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.
Voting for this book is highly appreciate. Cover image is the MC, artist's ig: @fatmaqn_
I've uploaded:
1. Chapter 380 of Fairy Tail: Sun Eater
2. Chapter 391 of Transcended as Lord Buggy
3. Pictures of both stories (ex: bounty poster & magazine cover) by fatmaqn_
https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain
(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)