Fairy Tail Guild – Two Days Later
The main hall buzzed with activity once more, but the tension hadn't faded—it had simply adapted. The chatter now centred on the Bastions, theories about dragons, and the cult's next move. Everyone knew something bigger was coming.
Makarov stood before a large parchment spread across the mission board. It was a reconstructed map—one drawn from old guild records, Rune Knight archives, and what little remained from the ancient dragon-seal texts Levy had uncovered.
Makarov: "These markings here—Leyline intersections. Each one corresponds to known bastion sites."
He tapped a spot far to the north.
Makarov: "This one lies in the Glacien Reach. Frozen mountains, old ruins. Locals call it the 'White Hollow.' The last known expedition there was nearly a century ago."
Diana, standing beside him, narrowed her eyes.
Diana: "Let me guess—none of them came back."
Levy: "Some did. But they were... changed. Scarred. They said the mountain whispered to them. That it showed them wings buried beneath the ice."
Masumi: "Well, that sounds encouraging."
Y/N studied the map, fingers tracing the worn ink. There, just near the edge of the borderlands, a ruin marked only by one faded word:
Frosthymn.
Y/N: "That's where we go next."
Makarov nodded solemnly. Makarov: "Then you leave by dawn. You'll need warm gear, enchanted protection, and a cart full of fire lacrima if you want to stay alive."
Erza approached the group, fully armoured. Erza: "You won't be going alone."
Y/N blinked.Y/N: "Wait, you're coming?"
Erza: "This is bigger than just your team now. We're not sending anyone to face another Bastion alone."
Behind her, Gray stepped forward, arms crossed.
Gray: "Besides, I'm not letting you amateurs go poking around an ice ruin without a proper Ice-Make mage."
Diana: "Careful. You're starting to sound like you care."
Gray: "Don't push it."
Makarov: "Then it's settled. Y/N, Diana, Masumi, Gray, and Erza. You're the strike team. In and out. We find the shard, assess the site, and get back before the cult even knows we were there."
Masumi smirked, lighting sparks between his fingers. Masumi: "What's the plan if they do know?"
Makarov's eyes darkened.
Makarov: "Then we show them what Fairy Tail does to those who dig too deep."
Frosthymn – Four Days Later
The cold bit like knives.
The wind screamed down the mountain pass, carrying flecks of ancient frost. Their caravan—pulled by enchanted wolves—crept slowly through the ice fields. Around them, the land was deathly still. Not even birds ventured here.
Gray shivered. Gray: "I hate that I feel at home in this place."
Masumi's teeth chattered. Masumi: "I hate that you feel at home in this place."
Y/N trudged forward silently, his eyes fixed on the distant spires of cracked stone jutting from the glacier ahead. Diana walked beside him, her breath misting in the air.
Diana: "You feel it again, don't you?"
Y/N nodded.
Y/N: "It's buried. But it's not asleep."
Erza pulled out a long-bladed sword infused with warming magic.
Erza: "Be ready. The deeper we go, the louder it gets."
As they entered the ruins, the frost grew stranger. The ice here didn't reflect their torches—it absorbed the light as if swallowing it. Arcane symbols lined the pillars, jagged and ancient.
Levy's notes were right. The Bastion was buried here.
They reached a clearing—circular, sunken slightly into the glacier. At its centre was a pedestal, covered in hoarfrost, with a crack down the middle.
Gray knelt, brushing away snow.
Gray: "There's something trapped under here."
Suddenly, the wind stopped.
The silence was instant. Suffocating.
Then, behind them, a crunch of footsteps.
Diana: "We're not alone."
Figures emerged from the ice mist—six of them, robed and hooded, their presence thick with corrupted magic.
A voice called out, feminine and cold as the wind.
Cultist: "The Flame walks into the Frost. One lock broken, six remain."
Y/N stepped forward, green flickers dancing behind his eyes.
Y/N: "You're too late. We won't let you unseal this one."
The lead cultist laughed softly.
Cultist: "Oh, child... we're not here to unseal it."
She raised her hand.
Cultist: "We're here to feed it."
The ground cracked.
A tremor shook the glacier.
From the pedestal, a plume of frozen air burst upward, and from deep below the ice, something roared.