What, one might ask, is the darkest thing in this world?
In Brian's eyes, the darkest thing must be a person who lacks true awareness—someone completely ignorant of their own darkness, believing everything they do is righteous, while in the eyes of others, they embody pure darkness.
At this moment, Ian, in Brian's view, was precisely this terrifying entity.
"The person who raised someone as chaotic as him must be extraordinary," Brian thought silently as he observed Ian.
Meanwhile, in the Fairy Tail guild...
"Achoo!"
The guild master, old Makarov, sneezed repeatedly.
Indeed, one can sit peacefully at home and yet be blamed out of nowhere.
"What if I refuse?" Brian tried to negotiate with Ian.
"You have no choice," Ian replied, releasing a slight pressure of gravity.
"Ugh…" With just a single touch, Brian tasted blood in his throat, sustaining serious internal injuries from the gravitational force Ian exerted.
"You're quite fragile now, Brian," Ian said with a smile, hands behind his back, as he looked down at him.
"I'll modify the magic developer as you requested," Brian said, struggling to maintain his composure despite his churning stomach and twisting organs. "But after it's done, you have to let me go. Otherwise, you might as well kill me now because I'd rather die than help you."
"Don't assume I absolutely need you," Ian said, narrowing his eyes with a hint of killing intent. "Maybe it'd be better to ask Precht, the guild master, instead."
Brian, feeling Ian's overwhelming pressure, broke into a cold sweat. His body trembled, his heart pounding so hard it was almost deafening. One wrong move, and his life would be over.
"Haha, alright then…" Ian laughed, retracting his magical energy just as Brian was about to collapse and beg. "As long as you upgrade the magic developer, I'll let you go."
"Of course!" Ian warned coldly, "But if you try any tricks, you'll find out just what price one pays for crossing Fairy Tail! Some punishments go beyond death."
"Rest assured," Brian stammered, kneeling in panic. "As long as you keep your promise, I'll work wholeheartedly for Fairy Tail."
"Good," Ian nodded slightly, not sparing Brian another glance.
He raised his hands, using gravity magic to lift the entire sand dune beneath them and carry it like a flying platform toward Magnolia Town.
"What immense magic power," Brian thought in awe, still kneeling, too frightened to stand. Cold sweat poured down his face.
For a moment, Ian stood tall while Brian knelt, forming a stark contrast. Ian was cold and merciless, while Brian was utterly humiliated.
So then, who was the true dark mage here, and who was the mage of light?
Ian mused: "When it comes to being light mages, we Fairy Tail might be newcomers. But regarding darkness, no one in Ishgar is purer than us - after all, strictly speaking, our founder was the Black Wizard Zeref."
Before long, Ian and Brian arrived at the back mountain of the Fairy Tail guild.
After four long years, Brian once again stepped into the grand magic development bureau. Looking around at the familiar equipment, he couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic. He turned to Ian and asked, "As long as I modify this machine, you'll let me go, right?"
"Separate." Ian replied.
In that instant, as Brian instinctively recalled his knowledge of the magic developer, Ian extracted every memory related to it from Brian's mind.
"What… what did you do to me?!" Brian's pupils trembled as he sensed he'd lost something crucial. Sweat beaded on his forehead.
"It seems I lack talent in memory separation and enchantment magic," Ian noted, "I can only remove a memory when someone actively recalls it. If it were Irene, she could likely strip your knowledge effortlessly."
"I apologize," Ian continued, looking at Brian with cold intent. "Four years ago, I didn't have enough time… I needed you alive to face memory judgment by the Magic Council, to absolve Ur and the others of their crime of trespassing on the bureau. That's the only reason you survived another four years."
"This was my mistake," he added, his gaze icy. "Now, I'll correct it."
If he hadn't broken Brian out, he couldn't kill him, as the Magic Council had long abolished the death penalty in favor of human rights.
When Ian first arrived in this world, he simulated an era ruled by dragons, a time of sheer chaos and no laws, where lives were worthless.
His hands were far from clean.
Those in this lawful era, like Fairy Tail mages under Makarov's protection, were lucky to keep their hands clean. The dirty work of dealing with filth could be left to him, Ian.
This was the work of adults.
"You can't kill me… you can't…" Brian stammered, wide-eyed in terror as memories of his past deeds flashed before him like a lantern reel.
Maybe he had regrets… What if he hadn't gone to extremes from the beginning? What if he hadn't harmed so many people?
But it was too late for what-ifs.
With a blinding burst, a column of light shot from Ian's palm, erasing Brian's body and soul entirely.
"Now then…" Ian murmured, turning his attention to the magic developer.
The next step was to modify the magic developer based on Brian's extracted memories.
Ian wondered, what was the developer's true limit? Could it open a mage's second magic source?
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