Magic power piqued Ben's interest and he immediately knew who's magic power it was. This was coming from someone he didn't like, so he immediately went to the magic power's source, leaving the celebration with the townsfolk.
"What are you doing here, Zeref?" Ben asked after teleporting into the forest.
The source of the magic power was Zeref. That's the reason Ben came here immediately. Mavis came here before Ben and he knew why she's here because she shared a few things with him. He really didn't care about it and only looked at Zeref.
"It's you again. I knew you were strong, but I never thought you would be able to slay dragons by yourself." Zeref said.
"So what will you do about it? Do you intend to kill me?" Ben asked.
"I might need to because you have the potential to become a greater threat than Acnologia." Zeref responded.
Ben scoffed after he heard that. "You talk as if you're not the same as him. In my mind, you're just as bad as he is. You're both threats to this world."
"Threats? To who? Humans? Humans are the real threat to this world. They do whatever they want and put this world in danger." Zeref said before Ben interrupted him.
"Stop! I don't want to hear the twisted ideals from your twisted mind. You just want to justify your own actions and make everyone else look bad. Do you even know what an endangered world really looks like? You don't know shit." Ben said. He knew how bad the earth he originally came from was compared to this world.
"It seems your view on humans and my view on them are different." Zeref noted.
"There's no doubt about it." Ben stated firmly.
Ben and Zeref look at each other for a while without saying anything else. Then Ben suddenly appeared in front of Zeref and threw a punch at him. Then his time stopped and only Zeref can move in the stopped time.
He smiled and looked at the frozen Ben while trying to say something. He can't say anything because he is suddenly punched in the face. Then something exceeded his expectations. Ben can move in this frozen time and proceeded to punch him in the face.
Zeref was flung far away and crashed into a lot of trees before stopping. His time freeze spell was canceled out because he could no longer maintain it. Ben just stood there while looking at the surprised Zeref.
"I won't fall for the same trick twice." Ben said.
Mavis also seemed surprised because she knew what had happened. She had known Zeref for a long time and this was the first time she saw his time freeze spell was broken by force.
"Not so tough now, are you?" Ben asked as he slowly walked towards Zeref.
"A true Dragon Slayer really is different." Zeref said while wiping the blood coming out of his nose away.
"How about we finish everything here, Zeref?" Ben asked.
"I don't mind, but are you sure about that?" Zeref asked back.
"So you want to use 'that' to threaten me, huh?" Ben repeated his question.
"It seems you know about it." Zeref said.
"Yeah, I always felt something strange coming from Natsu's body. Then it became clear when Lucy told me about it after she was told about it by her future self." Ben nodded.
"You know about it, but you still want to kill me now? I don't mind being killed as it is one of my goals, but are you fine with it?" Zeref asked.
"Well. I might not be able to kill you for that reason, but I can beat you up until you beg for mercy." Ben said while cracking his neck.
Zeref had a thin smile on his face.
"If someone else said it, I wouldn't believe them. Since this is coming from someone that managed to slay dragons, they certainly have the credibility to back that statement up. Unfortunately, now is not the time." He said.
After he said that, Zeref suddenly disappeared as a black orb covered his body. Ben tried to attack him, but he was already gone. Zeref learned from his mistake in the past when Ben managed to hit him before he entered his black orb.
"Damn, he got away." Ben said, disappointed.
Mavis approached him.
"Ben, what were you discussing with Zeref about Natsu before?" She asked.
Ben looked at her for a moment.
"First Master, before I tell you this, you must make me a promise. Never share the information I'm about to tell you with anyone else." He insisted.
"Alright, I will never tell anyone." Mavis agreed.
Suddenly a magic circle appeared below her and Ben.
It was a magic contract Ben made and it was activated as soon as Mavis agreed.
Mavis was surprised by it.
"Do you need to go this far?" She asked.
"I do." Ben nodded as a soundproof barrier was formed around them.
"What I'm about to tell you might destroy our guild." He added.
Mavis got a lot more serious and she even added to the barrier's power to make sure nothing leaked out.
After Mavis nodded, Ben dropped the bomb. "Natsu is a demon from the Book of Zeref. He is the best creation of Zeref that we all know as E.N.D which is a abbreviation for Etherious Natsu Dragneel."
This was not a bomb Mavis ever expected and she was shocked.
Mavis then said with widened eyes. "That's...This information has the potential to split our guild right down the middle. It has the potential to affect not just our guild, but the entire continent of Ishgar and possibly the rest of the world. E.N.D is known to be one of the worst demons in the Book of Zeref and has been the target of extermination for quite some time."
Ben nodded. "That's right, but I'm not someone who believes all demons are evil. I've known Natsu for years and I'm sure that he never pretended to be good. He is just a pure-hearted idiot who always wants to be strong. I don't know if I've told you this, but I had a demon friend in the past who passed on years ago. Thanks to him, I learned that demons have hearts and feelings like us."
"So I always thought that only Etherious were pure evil, but I was mistaken. Even Etherious have hearts. It's just that they were made to be evil and most of them follow the purpose of their creation. Natsu seems to be different though and maybe there are other Etherious like him. I never met them though, but there's always a possibility." Ben said.
Mavis understood it so far, so he continued. "It's still speculation on my part, but I think the reason why Natsu is like that is because he's E.N.D. We know that E.N.D is Zeref's best creation, so maybe that's why he's different from other Etherious. Besides, he was raised by a dragon, so I think Igneel did something as well."
"That makes sense and I agree with you. I also don't want to judge him just because he's an Etherious. But I still can't understand why it prevented you from killing Zeref. I'm sure you know that Zeref can't be allowed to stay in the world like this." Mavis said.
"It's not that I don't want to kill Zeref. It's that I can't kill Zeref. The lives of all Etherious are connected to him. If I kill him right now, Natsu will die as well." Ben informed her.
"T-then, what should we do?" Mavis asked, worried.
"I need to sever their connection before killing Zeref. To do that, I need to find the Book of E.N.D and rewrite it. Then I also need to do something about Natsu's Demon Seed because Future Lucy told me that it turned him into a demon at some point." Ben said.
"Do you know where the book is?" Mavis asked.
"I have a hunch, but I won't rely on it too much. I'll try to figure out a solution without the book's help." Ben said.
"Phew, alright. It might sound pathetic, but I will leave it to you. Also, who knows about this now?" Mavis asked.
"Only you, me and Lucy know about this right now. I haven't even told Master Makarov yet. Future Lucy told our Lucy about it and Lucy told me because her future self asked her to do it because she thought that I would come up with the best solution." Ben replied.
Mavis nodded in understanding and then ended the conversation. Ben didn't intend on telling her this, but she knew a lot more about Zeref than he did. So she might be able to help, even if it was only a little. Anyway, Ben had another big job to do after he finished this big job.
He still intended to kill Zeref because it would erase all Etherious that threaten this world. There might be other good Etherious like Natsu, but the chances were really low and he doesn't know them, so he really doesn't care. But first he needed to figure out a way to sever Natsu's connection to Zeref.