BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Flames of battle raged across the dark castle, the battle lines even extending into the surrounding Death Forest. The thunderous sounds of magical explosions were unending.
As the strongest dark guild on the surface, aside from the core Seven Kin, Grimoire Heart also had many powerful retainer followers like Cavats and Yomazu. In the original story, they hadn't accompanied Hades in attacking Tenrou Island but had instead been left behind to guard the headquarters.
So, purely in terms of mid-level forces participating in the battle, their size and numbers far exceeded those of the original Tenrou Island invasion force!
Of course, Fairy Tail's side wasn't limited to just the Tenrou group either. They had mobilized dozens of mages, including Macao, Wakaba, Bisca, Alzack, and others. The lineup was quite gorgeous.
In a continuous series of encounters and counterattacks, everyone fully demonstrated the results of their hard training under Dark Magician's guide, fighting fiercely against the Grimoire Heart mages.
It was worth mentioning that, due to their absolute advantage in numbers, some Grimoire Heart zealots had turned their attention to the large magical weapon docked across from the dark castle, trying to seize it.
Makarov had naturally anticipated this situation. So, the Nirvana's magic array for detecting evil intentions activated autonomously. Black lasers precisely locked onto targets and guided magical cannon fire, clearing out any Grimoire Heart mages who entered attack range!
At this point, the battle between Fairy Tail and Grimoire Heart had become a stalemate, mutually stalemated.
Meanwhile, in a coastal town far from the Death Forest.
The bustling streets were filled with tranquility and peace. At the end of the street stood a brand new three-story Western-style building.
From the conspicuous signboard above the door reading "SaberTooth," it was clear that this was Sabertooth's guild hall, recently renovated.
Unlike Fairy Tail's guild layout, stepping through the front door led to two spiral staircases going up to the second floor.
To the left of the stairs was the work area, including the reception desk and request board. To the right were neatly arranged tables and chairs, where guild members relaxed, drank, and chatted in their free time.
After this period of development, under Ur's leadership, Sabertooth had completely escaped the embarrassing situation following Jieman's arrest.
Although they hadn't yet reached the scale of established guilds like Lamia Scale or Blue Pegasus, they had still gathered quite a few talented mages and earned a place in the Fiore Guild Alliance.
The reasons for this rapid development were nothing more than two.
First, Ur, as the guild master, was quite famous—a dark horse candidate for this year's Ten Wizard Saints selection.
Second, Sabertooth had an all-weather strategic partnership with Fairy Tail, the strongest guild in Fiore!
These two points alone guaranteed that Sabertooth's rise was unstoppable, so mages naturally flocked to join.
In fact, this current scale was actually the result of Ur screening out a large number of mages with poor character who didn't meet the criteria!
In front of the left-side bar, Ur, dressed in a revealing three-point outfit, sat facing Gray.
"A dark guild... Grimoire Heart." Ur frowned, her gaze fixed on the teacup in front of her, her expression complex. "I didn't expect Ultear to be a member of such a guild..."
From Gray, she had learned the full story.
Back when they had first recognized each other as mother and daughter, she had asked about Ultear's experiences over the years, but her daughter had perfunctoryly ed her.
From the pain Ultear had tried so hard to hide at the time, Ur had already had a very bad premonition.
And now, that premonition she hadn't wanted to face had finally been confirmed.
Gray, sitting across from her, was equally lost. He clenched his fists tightly at his sides, unsure how to comfort Ur—he knew that Ultear had been the mastermind behind Jellal's Tower of Heaven plot.
Although Ultear had since awakened and deeply understood her sins, that was an unchangeable fact.
Sensing the heavy atmosphere, Ur sighed softly. She reluctantly pushed down her concerns and worries for Ultear, putting on a relatively relaxed expression. "By the way, that cute girl over there... she's your girlfriend, isn't she, Gray?"
She pointed at Juvia, who was squatting in a corner, fidgeting shyly, muttering strange things like "Mother-in-law" and "grandmother of eighteen children."
Ur had already met Juvia, who had performed alongside Gray during the Magnolia Harvest Festival, and her impression of her was quite deep.
"G-g-girlfriend?!" Gray, still immersed in his regretful emotions, was caught off guard by this sudden topic. He hurriedly defended, "We're just guildmates!"
He hadn't yet completely figured things out and couldn't confront Juvia's feelings. In fact, he even found them a bit baffling.
"Just guildmates? That girl looks at you like she's engraved your image into her eyes." Watching Gray fluster, Ur's thoughts were pulled back to the happy times of their family of three. She propped her cheek on her hand, a faint smile appearing at the corner of her mouth. "You shouldn't let down a girl's feelings, you know. It's rare for someone to like a pervert who can't keep his clothes on like you."
"And who do you think gave me this habit?!" Gray shot back immediately.
"Before saying something so hurtful, put some clothes on first."
"What?! When did I—?! Wait! You're the one who should put on clothes! You're a guild master, for crying out loud!!" Gray, as if possessed by Lucy, pointed at Ur's revealing outfit and let out a string of complaints.
Meanwhile, in the right-side activity area.
Wendy and Carla, who had come along, found their good friend from the Oración Seis subjugation battle—Minerva.
Minerva was very happy to see the sudden visit of the little sister, who was a year younger than her. She introduced Wendy to the fellow Dragon Slayers Sting and Rogue, as well as the new guild members.
Wendy, like a little star, was surrounded by everyone. She smiled and greeted them, but her eyes occasionally glanced at Sting and Rogue, who were only wearing boxer shorts, though what she was thinking remained a mystery.
Lector and Frosch, meanwhile, learned from Carla about their identities as Exceeds, their homeland of Edolas, and other information, finding it all quite incredible.
Back at the bar, Gray glanced at Wendy, who had become the center of attention, then turned his gaze back to Ur.
"So, Ur, are you really not going to evacuate temporarily?" His expression was somewhat serious.
Although no unexpected situations had arisen yet, he had been feeling a sense of crisis since earlier—a very bad one.
Ultear didn't know who Hades had sent, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that they wouldn't be easy opponents!
"Legal guilds have no reason to fear dark guilds, do they? And besides..." Ur raised her teacup and took a small sip, her expression serious. "My guild is right here."
As a guild master, running away at the mere mention of a dark guild's name would be far too pathetic. It would also be irresponsible toward her guild members.
Not to mention the fact that her own daughter, Ultear, was involved!
"But—"
Just as Gray was about to say more, a sudden CRASH echoed through the hall as the guild door was forcefully pushed open.
"Master! Grimoire Heart... they're here!!" A Sabertooth mage on perimeter alert ran in hurriedly, practically tripping over himself.
Ur instantly stood up, throwing a brown coat over her shoulders. "How many of them are there?"
"Only two. One is a little brat with short pink hair. But the other... if I'm not mistaken, it's the great mage who annihilated an entire armed company during the Cabria War, known as 'wherever he goes, nothing grows'—" The Sabertooth mage's face was pale as he struggled to suppress the fear rising within him. "Bluenote Stinger!"
"Bluenote? The vice-master of Grimoire Heart?!" Gray jumped at the name.
According to the information Ultear had sent, Bluenote possessed terrifying magic power rivaling that of the Ten Wizard Saints. His strength was second only to Master Hades himself.
His danger level was even greater than Zero, the master of Oración Seis!
Before the operation, Makarov had particularly emphasized that, aside from Chase, no one else should engage him in battle. If they encountered him, they were to think of nothing but running.
He had never expected that such a monster would be sent to Sabertooth!
***
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