Chapter 568 - 568: August: Thank Goodness My Reaction Time Was Slow

"I don't know exactly what to say," Mavis whispered, hugging August tightly. "Knowing Zeref, he has absolutely no idea how to govern a nation.

"On the way here, I heard the citizens talking about how their Emperor has a habit of wandering and is rarely ever in the capital. That means the entire burden of managing this massive Empire has fallen onto you and the others.

"You must have endured so much hardship to keep this country running for all these years. Because I wasn't there to experience it with you, I don't have the right words to comfort you. All I can offer right now... is a hug.

"But I promise you, from now on, I will always be with you. You will never have to be alone again."

Mavis tightened her arms around his neck, pressing her cheek firmly against his. Feeling the deep wrinkles lining his weathered face, her heart ached profoundly.

Her child was already an old man, and she was only just now claiming her title as his mother. Through all his years of suffering, struggle, and loneliness, she had never been there to protect him.

She felt like an utter failure. All she could do now was stay by his side for whatever time he had left, ensuring he finally felt the warmth of the family he had been denied.

Held tightly in her arms, August's already rigid body began to tremble.

His eyes stung, and the edges of his vision suddenly blurred red.

Despite possessing near-absolute magical supremacy, his unique, tragic life had left him utterly starved for affection. When Zeref had found him, the Black Wizard hadn't recognized him as his son, and August had chosen to keep the secret.

While keeping the secret was his own choice, standing by his father's side for decades while never being acknowledged as a son had quietly bred a profound, agonizing loneliness in his heart. Furthermore, his overwhelming strength meant he was treated with fearful reverence by everyone else; no one had ever dared to treat him with genuine warmth or concern.

Hearing Mavis's words, August finally felt the unconditional, overwhelming rush of maternal love. His entire soul shuddered.

When he was a young boy struggling to survive, he would watch other children walking with their parents. He had desperately fantasized about what it would be like to have a family. Seeing children laugh as they were scooped into their mothers' arms filled him with a deep, aching envy.

He had wanted that. He had wanted a mother to hold him, to speak softly to him, to comfort him when he was sad, and to care about him unconditionally.

But as the decades passed and he grew old, he realized that dream was impossible. He had buried that childish fantasy deep within the darkest corners of his heart, never speaking of it to anyone.

And now, that deeply buried, impossible fantasy was happening.

His brilliant, analytical mind completely shut down. He didn't want to think about the Empire, the war, or the future. He just wanted to surrender to the moment and soak in his mother's love.

Sharing a meal with her. Walking the streets with her. Being held in her arms while she whispered promises of the future.

These were things he had only ever experienced in his most desperate, pathetic dreams. If this truly was a dream, he prayed he would never wake up.

Sensing the violent trembling of his massive frame, Mavis hugged him even tighter. She gently rubbed his back, soothing his frayed emotions without saying a word. She knew he needed time to process the sheer emotional whiplash.

Feeling her gentle touch, August instinctively raised his arms, slowly and awkwardly returning the embrace.

The mother and son held each other in silence.

Seeing this, Noah quietly stepped out of the alleyway, deploying a subtle localized ward to ensure absolutely no one disturbed them, giving them the privacy they deserved.

It took a long time for August to finally stabilize his emotions.

It was the first time in his eighty years of life that he had lost control of himself like this, but wrapped in his mother's arms, he didn't want to suppress it. Her embrace provided a profound sense of absolute security, allowing him to cleanly purge decades of repressed grief and loneliness.

Once his mind was clear, August subtly pulsed a tiny sliver of magic to his eyes, instantly evaporating the unshed tears and clearing the redness. He slowly, gently loosened his grip on Mavis.

Feeling his arms relax, Mavis stepped back slightly, allowing herself to look up at his face.

"How do you feel? Better?" Mavis asked softly.

"Much better. Thank you, Mother," August replied, his voice incredibly gentle.

The lingering warmth of her embrace was the ultimate proof. This wasn't a dream. This was reality.

Having purged his emotional baggage, August felt a profound, euphoric lightness in his chest. The mundane alleyway around them suddenly looked vibrant and beautiful. It felt as if his entire world had been revitalized.

"You should stand up. You've been crouching for a long time; your legs must be falling asleep," Mavis said, reaching out to help him up.

"It's nothing. My legs are perfectly fine," August chuckled, his massive, calloused hand gently wrapping around her small, pristine one as he smoothly stood up.

"You still need to take better care of your body," Mavis frowned slightly, adopting a stern, motherly tone.

She knew August was unimaginably powerful. Thanks to the constant nourishment of his vast Ethernano reserves, his physical vitality was far greater than a normal human's. But he was still eighty-eight years old.

Mavis wanted to spend a long, happy life with her son. His health and longevity were her absolute highest priority.

"I understand, Mother," August smiled warmly, his heart swelling with happiness at her scolding. To him, her nagging was the sweetest sound in the world.

"Good. Make sure you remember that," Mavis nodded in satisfaction.

Suddenly, Mavis's entire body seized. Her face instantly drained of color, twisting into a mask of pure, unadulterated agony as she violently clutched her chest.

"Mother?! What's wrong?!" August panicked, his eyes widening in terror as he reached for her.

"Get... away from me!" Mavis gasped through gritted teeth.

Before August could react, Mavis vanished.

BOOOOOOM!

The cobblestone beneath August's feet silently pulverized into dust. An apocalyptic ocean of terrifying, unfathomable magic violently erupted from his body, driven by sheer, instinctual panic.

His skin rapidly darkened to a deep crimson red. A glowing golden ring materialized on his forehead, branching into three jagged golden lines that traced down his cheeks and neck. His white hair and beard violently defied gravity, floating upward in the chaotic storm of his own surging magic.

"Calm down! The First Master is fine!"

Noah instantly materialized beside him. Simultaneously, Noah deployed a massive, hyper-dense localized containment ward, completely trapping August's surging magic to prevent it from vaporizing the surrounding city blocks.

Looking at August's crimson skin and glowing runes, Noah felt a terrifying surge of pressure. This was the Magic King's true battle form.

"What happened to my mother?!" August demanded, his voice echoing with raw power, though he forced himself to rein in the destructive aura.

He knew Noah was the one who reunited them; he wouldn't harm Mavis. If Noah was telling him to calm down, he clearly knew what was happening.

"Relax your magic. I'll take you to her right now," Noah instructed calmly.

August nodded, instantly retracting his apocalyptic aura, though he remained in his crimson battle form.

Noah tapped his foot, smoothing out the pulverized cobblestone beneath them and dropping the containment ward. He raised a hand, and the two of them instantly vanished from the alleyway.

When they reappeared, they were floating fifteen kilometers in the air, deep within the freezing stratosphere.

August instantly reacted, casting a flight spell to stabilize himself in the sky. Noah smoothly applied his own anti-gravity array, hovering beside him.

"There she is," Noah pointed into the distance.

A few hundred meters away, Mavis was hovering in the sky. She was clutching her head in agony, her small body violently emitting thick, terrifying waves of pitch-black miasma.

"I see... so Mother suffers from the Ankhseram Curse as well," August murmured, his eyes widening in realization.

He had seen that exact black miasma erupting from Zeref countless times. He knew exactly what it was.

Realizing his mother shared his father's curse, her sudden disappearance made perfect sense. He let out a long, heavy sigh of profound relief.

The moment Mavis had shown signs of agony, August had recognized the subtle fluctuations of a spatial teleportation array activating around her. His immediate instinct had been to violently shatter the teleportation spell to stop his mother from being taken away.

But because his mind had been completely relaxed and immersed in the euphoria of their reunion, his reaction time had been a fraction of a second too slow. The teleportation had succeeded before he could break it.

Initially, he had been furious with himself for letting her be taken. But now, realizing she was about to detonate the Curse of Contradiction... he was incredibly thankful he had been too slow.

If he had shattered the teleportation array and kept her in the alleyway, the resulting eruption of death magic would have instantly annihilated thousands of innocent civilians in the surrounding city blocks. That massive loss of life would have utterly devastated his mother, ruining their joyful reunion.

"I wasn't paying attention to your conversation. What exactly did you guys talk about that triggered her curse?" Noah asked, floating closer to August.

August quickly recounted their conversation, a fond smile returning to his face as he repeated his mother's nagging about his health.

"Ah, I see. That makes sense," Noah nodded thoughtfully.

"When we originally designed the warding matrix on her body, it drastically reduced the frequency of her curse eruptions. The Ankhseram Curse is a paradox; you can't forget you have it, but if you focus on the value of life, it detonates.

"Because the wards automatically handle the safety protocols, the First Master subconsciously stopped worrying about the curse, which stabilized her mental state. However, based on your conversation, she began deeply valuing your health and longevity. Because she felt genuine, profound love for your life, the curse triggered."

"I see. That makes logical sense," August nodded, thoroughly impressed by the intricate magical engineering.

When he first saw Mavis, his sensory magic had easily detected the incredibly complex runic matrix woven into her clothes. He had assumed they were standard defensive wards designed to protect her from physical harm. Out of respect for her privacy, he hadn't probed the spell's core architecture.

Now he understood its true brilliance. The matrix included a localized containment shield to dampen the initial burst of miasma, immediately followed by an automated spatial teleportation array that launched her deep into the stratosphere, ensuring the death wave never reached populated areas.

"Yeah, it took us months to finalize the design. Without it, the First Master wouldn't be able to live a normal life or interact with the guild. Living with an unsuppressed curse is pure psychological torture. Your father is a prime example," Noah noted, watching the black miasma slowly dissipate as the curse ran its course.

"You know about that?" August asked, turning to look at Noah. The young man had just casually referred to Zeref as his father.

"We recovered Precht's research. We knew the First Master was pregnant. And based on her own timeline of events, the only person she had intimate contact with during that period was Zeref. It wasn't exactly hard to put two and two together," Noah chuckled.

"Honestly, thinking about it just makes me marvel at the absolute absurdity of magic. It's one of the main reasons I'm so obsessed with it," Noah sighed in profound amazement.

"Why does this make you marvel at magic?" August asked curiously, seeing that Mavis's curse had nearly finished venting. He had witnessed Zeref's eruptions enough times to know she was safe now, so he relaxed and engaged in the conversation.

~~~

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