Chapter 324: How to Lift the Curse? Easy...

The moment Nate held Mavis's physical body, he immediately understood everything.

"How is it?" she asked.

Mavis floated closer, though she didn't dare approach her own body too closely.

Nate pressed his head against the chest of Mavis's physical form. He could clearly hear the sound of a heartbeat.

"This is fascinating magic—your body is merely a 'vessel,' a container," he said. "To put it in one sentence…I can hear the endless pulse of life!"

The pulse of magic power.

The magic inside Mavis's physical body seemed alive.

"Endless pulse?" Mavis nodded lightly, her voice soft. "It does feel that way."

"First Master, you've probably heard of the Magic Council's superweapon, 'Etherion,' haven't you?" Nate asked. "A single strike capable of destroying an entire nation—this body holds the potential for infinite Etherion usage. The magic consumed would recover in a very short amount of time. It truly is unlimited magic power."

As for why it was still only "potential," it was because it had never been truly used; the judgment was based purely on theory.

"This magic must never come to light. It's my sin…" Mavis clenched her tiny fists, her voice filled with guilt.

"How did this magic come to be?" Nate inquired.

He already had a general idea but wanted to hear it from her directly.

"That's a story from before Fairy Tail was founded…" Mavis began without hesitation.

Fairy Tail's four founding members had once encountered Zeref. During that time, Zeref temporarily acted as their teacher, instructing them in various forms of magic. Among them was a magic called Law, which later became the precursor to Fairy Law.

During one mission, Mavis used the unfinished Law magic. As a result, she was cursed by the god Ankhseram.

From then on—

In the year X686, April, the Fairy Tail guild was officially established. For the following decade, the curse seemed harmless, aside from halting Mavis's physical growth.

But then came X696.

Makarov was born. Mavis personally named him, and at the moment she witnessed the birth of a child, she understood the essence of life. The curse erupted.

The energy of death took the life of Makarov's mother. Even Makarov's father was affected by the curse, though he didn't die immediately.

"It was then that I finally understood—I had been afflicted by Ankhseram's curse," Mavis said, her voice growing heavy with emotion. "I tried everything to lift the curse, but nothing worked. In the end, I resorted to a solution that wasn't really a solution at all…I used a secret ritual to abandon my physical body—I took my own life!"

Huh? Nate raised his eyebrows in surprise. This didn't match the version of events he knew. Wasn't Mavis killed by Zeref's curse? Because Zeref's curse was stronger, or because Mavis didn't love Zeref—those were the usual explanations. None of this seemed to fit.

Nate remained silent, choosing to listen patiently.

"And then?" he prompted.

"Then…" Mavis sighed. "I hid my death from everyone, but the Second Master was truly a genius mage. He discovered my condition—my heart was still beating. The god's curse left my physical body immortal and unaging. He tried countless 'resurrection' magics to bring me back, but all of them failed. The combination of resurrection magics with Ankhseram's curse created a magic unprecedented in the history of the magical world… And that is what you now hold—the eternal magic, Fairy Heart!"

After speaking, Mavis looked at Nate with a serious expression. Her tone was calm as she said, "Fourth Master, if you can lift my curse, please do so, even if it costs me my life!"

What was she saying—did she truly want to die?

Nate shook his head, then suddenly remembered an important question. "Mavis, do you have any children?"

"Huh?" Mavis's eyes widened. What nonsense was this idiot talking about?

Judging by her reaction, Nate had his answer. No children? Then what was the Wizard King about? He felt puzzled. According to the Second Master, he had encountered the Wizard King in the Alvarez Empire and barely escaped with his life.

Forget it—he put the matter aside for now.

"Actually, lifting your curse is very simple," Nate said. "Do you want the painless version or the painful version?"

Mavis was stunned. "You have two methods?"

"I recommend the painless version," he replied. The painful version would require using Irene's Separation Enchantment, while the painless version was much simpler.

"I can use Internet Magic to extract Fairy Heart," Nate explained. "However, are you willing to give up infinite magic power? To be honest, infinite magic power is derived from the curse's influence. Lifting the curse means losing that infinite magic power."

As he spoke, Nate began to understand part of the divine power's nature. No wonder so many people mistook the Magic Net for something divine or considered him a god's incarnation. Gods truly did not use something as low-level as magic power. The Magic Net might seem to consume magic power, but the results showed no trace of a magical flow.

At the same time, Nate realized the level at which divine power must exist. The god Ankhseram had cursed Mavis unintentionally, and yet that curse had birthed Fairy Heart, granting infinite magic power. It was absurd. The power of gods far surpassed that of any mage.

So, how does one become a god? Nate couldn't help pondering this question.

At that moment, Mavis's voice broke into his thoughts. Her face was filled with disbelief. "Can it really be lifted?"

"Yes, it's a trivial matter."

Mavis's eyes sparkled with admiration, and in them, Nate could clearly see reverence. Being admired by the First Master, a little girl at heart, was quite an achievement.

Nate smiled. "Shall I lift it now? Once I do, you'll be able to return to your body and be revived."

"Please, Fourth Master~!"

"Alright, I'll start now." Nate nodded, then suddenly remembered something. "Oh, by the way, once you're revived, time won't suddenly catch up. If you want your chest to grow, you'll have to develop it slowly."

He hadn't forgotten the original intention behind this entire endeavor. It was ridiculous—how had they gone from wanting a slightly bigger chest to lifting a curse? She was actually willing to give up infinite magic power to grow her chest?

"What nonsense are you talking about?!" Mavis's face turned crimson, as if steam were rising from her head. Embarrassed, she scolded him, "I'm not doing this to make my chest bigger!"

Sure, sure, whatever you say, Nate thought, rolling his eyes. He then reached out and placed his hand on Mavis's chest.

"Magic Net—activate!"

In an instant, the combined power of the curse and the resurrection magic within Mavis's body began to slowly extract into the Deep Web. The process took several hours. Only after all of the Eternal Magic: Fairy Heart had been completely transferred did Mavis's ghost enter her body once more.

Moments later, her eyelashes fluttered, and what had been a "corpse" came back to life.

"Congratulations, First Master," Nate said.

As soon as she awoke, Mavis threw herself into Nate's arms, tears of joy streaming down her face. She laughed through her tears:

"Thank you, Fourth Master~!"