Chapter 1020: [1020] : Thrill

...

Shin had come to a singular, undeniable realization: he was no longer human. He was a god.

And as a god, these mortals existed solely to obey him.

"Shin, please! Let him go! I am begging you, let him go!"

Watching the First Master weep and beg at his feet, Shin experienced an overwhelming flood of dark satisfaction and euphoria.

Why was he feeling this way? What was driving these sadistic emotions?

Shin couldn’t understand his own mind anymore, and he didn’t care to try.

"Why would I let him go?" Shin asked smoothly, looking down at her. "You need to understand your place."

"You are begging me. Is that really the attitude you should have?"

"Besides," Shin smirked, "if I only inflicted pain on you, I would eventually get bored."

Shin’s eyes flashed, instantly transitioning into the awe-inspiring, Nine-Tomoe Rinne Sharingan.

Immediately, the sheer pressure of his chakra caused the entire underground cavern to violently explode.

Shin was no longer the man he used to be. He had achieved unparalleled power. He wielded not only the divine abilities of the Rinnegan but also an infinite reservoir of magic power which had seamlessly assimilated with his chakra.

He looked down at Mavis. The First Master was completely broken. She couldn’t even begin to comprehend the calamity unfolding around her.

She couldn’t fathom why a monster of this magnitude even existed. This was an entity that no one on Earth could ever hope to challenge.

Mavis fell forward, sobbing uncontrollably. "Someone... someone please save Fairy Tail! Someone save us!"

"There is nothing left! Fairy Tail is going to be destroyed! Is there no one who can save us??"

Hearing the explosions, Natsu and the rest of the guild finally rushed down into the ruins, only to find a pile of ashes where their Guild Master used to be.

They were motionless, completely unable to process the horrific scene.

"Shin!" Natsu yelled, his voice breaking with grief and rage. "What the hell happened here?? Why did this happen?"

Lucy and the other guild members immediately broke down into tears, unable to hold back their sorrow.

Shin, his mind working with twisted brilliance, immediately fabricated a lie.

"I don’t know what happened," Shin lied smoothly, pointing an accusing finger at Mavis. "It was all this woman’s fault. She is the dark wizard Zeref’s lover."

"Though you might know her by her other title."

"She is Fairy Tail’s First Master."

The guild members froze, staring back and forth between Shin and the sobbing, spectral girl on the ground. They were completely lost.

"But I grasp the truth now," Shin declared, his voice ringing with fake righteousness. "I know exactly what needs to be done."

"This woman belongs to Zeref. She may have been the First Master once, but she is completely corrupted now."

"I watched her murder the Third Master with my own eyes."

Natsu instantly lost all reason. He trusted Shin because Shin was their newest comrade. But this strange woman who had just appeared? He didn’t know her at all.

"I don’t care if you are the First Master or not!" Natsu roared, his fists erupting in blazing fire. "If you killed Gramps, I am never going to forgive you!"

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!"

Without a second thought, Natsu launched himself at Mavis, fully intending to destroy her.

"I cannot believe you all trust him!" Mavis cried, refusing to dodge the incoming attack. "Why is this happening?? I didn’t do anything wrong! Why is this happening to me?? I am the First Master of Fairy Tail!"

As Natsu’s flaming fist closed in, he waited for a fraction of a second, seeing the absolute despair on her face. "Are you really Zeref’s woman?"

"I am!" Mavis screamed. "But I swear I didn’t kill the Third Master! It was him! It was Shin! But none of you can defeat him! He is too strong!"

Mavis closed her eyes, accepting her fate. "I understand now. You just want me to die. Is that it?"

Watching the pitiful, broken First Master, Shin felt absolutely zero remorse. Instead, the thrilling rush of sadistic pleasure was different from anything he had ever experienced.

"Since you understand," Shin said coldly, "then you can go ahead and die."

Shin unleashed a quick, lethal burst of black magic.

Mavis let out a final, agonizing cry before her life was completely extinguished. The members of Fairy Tail stood in stunned, horrifying silence as the ancient founder of their guild faded away before their eyes.

However, Shin had never actually intended to permanently kill her.

Since she was going to be his woman now, he needed her body to be completely purified. By combining the Edo Tensei with the Samsara of Heavenly Life, he could resurrect her as a flawless, living human girl—completely erasing any physical ties she had to Zeref.

Just thinking about it made him even more excited.

Seeing the twisted, manic look in Shin’s eyes, Alice and Lucy both realized something was deeply, fundamentally wrong with him today.

But they couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was...

"Shin... what is going on?" Alice asked, her voice trembling slightly. "Why did you kill the Master? We have so many questions."

They couldn’t just walk away from the fact that the Guild Master had just been murdered. They couldn’t just ignore it.

Shin let out a resounding laugh.

"Are you all feeling angry about that girl?" Shin sneered. "I guess I forgot to mention one tiny detail."

"I was the one who killed the Third Master. And I just tricked all of you into killing the First Master!"

Shin relished the looks of betrayal on the guild members’ faces.

He slowly turned his cold, indifferent gaze toward Alice and Lucy.

"Look closely," Shin declared, his tone lacking any human empathy. "This is who I truly am. Do you want to know why I did all of this? Because it was entertaining."

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