"..."
The five dragons fell silent.
The White Dragon and Shadow Dragon opened their mouths slightly.
They had not expected this human before them to be thinking like this.
He was actually worried that they might die in battle against the Black Dragon.
He actually wanted all of them to come back alive.
Igneel, Grandeeney, and Metalicana also looked at one another, equally shocked.
They had never expected that this was the reason Marco had been delaying the fight.
Of course, saying they were not moved would be a lie.
But they also felt Marco's thinking was far too naive.
This was battle.
A battle where one side had to die.
It was not a game!
The moment one stepped onto the battlefield, life and death had to be cast aside.
No one could ensure they would return home alive, much less ensure that every companion fighting alongside them would also return alive.
"Marco, as you said, no one can protect their companions in a battle of this level. If you keep delaying it, can you really change that? None of us dragons need your protection, and none of us fear death. We only want to fulfill our mission of eliminating the Black Dragon!"
Looking at Marco, Igneel exhaled a breath through his nose and emphasized one point.
They were not cowards afraid of death.
They were willing to pay any price to destroy the Black Dragon.
"That's your business. But that isn't the ending I want. Even without you, I'll still destroy the Black Dragon. It's only a matter of time. There's no need to sacrifice any of your lives just for the sake of doing it sooner."
Marco's expression was calm.
He respected the spirit of these dragons.
They were fearless in the face of death.
They had nearly been killed by the Black Dragon before, yet they were still willing to do anything to eliminate him, even crossing four or five hundred years to reach this era.
But none of that was a reason for Marco to take risks alongside them.
When he had faced the Black Dragon before, even after obtaining Cosmo, Marco had still needed to rely on teleportation to deal with him.
Because his physical ability, having only just entered the sonic realm, had not been enough to stand against that Black Dragon directly.
In the end, he had scared Acnologia off with a full-powered Athena Exclamation that used everything he had.
Now, his Cosmo had reached mid-stage Sixth Sense.
His physical body had grown tremendously stronger, and both his understanding and control of Cosmo had deepened.
If he faced the Black Dragon again, he would definitely be much more composed than during that sudden encounter.
But if someone said that with his current mid-stage Sixth Sense level, he could steadily crush the Black Dragon and even kill him outright, Marco still did not have that confidence.
In his expectations, the best timing would be after reaching the Seventh Sense.
At the very least, he wanted to reach the completed peak of late-stage Sixth Sense, when he could come infinitely close to the speed of light before making his move.
By then, as long as the Black Dragon did not suddenly obtain some strange power, and as long as no one caused any unexpected trouble, Marco felt that he would most likely be able to steadily crush the Black Dragon.
"..."
The confidence in Marco's words left the Fire Dragon King Igneel speechless.
The other four dragons also exchanged looks.
"Then we'll search for information about the Black Dragon first."
When the atmosphere became somewhat strange, Grandeeney spoke up.
She chose to set the disagreement aside for now.
No matter what they decided to do next, they had to first find traces of the Black Dragon.
And if the Black Dragon appeared to commit evil again, Marco would certainly act to stop him.
....
After Grandeeney smoothed things over, the matter was temporarily set aside.
The Sky Dragon was right.
These arguments could wait until after they found information about the Black Dragon Acnologia.
Their most urgent task was to first locate traces of the Black Dragon.
Ever since Marco released the news about "searching for the Black Dragon," Fairy Tail had received countless pieces of "information," but among them, there had not been a single truly useful lead.
That was perfectly normal.
Natsu, Gajeel, and Wendy had spent years searching for their dragon fathers and mother, yet most of the time they had only run around for nothing.
Almost none of the information they obtained had been reliable.
When Marco issued this task and asked everyone to gather information on the Black Dragon, he had never expected ordinary people to provide any truly effective clues.
Encountering the Black Dragon and surviving was not something an ordinary person could do.
Even a bit of spittle casually flung from the Black Dragon would be like a meteor crashing down upon an ordinary person.
And here, "ordinary person" referred to anyone weaker than Gildarts.
Because possessing Gildarts's level of strength was the minimum requirement to survive after being casually blasted by the Black Dragon.
There were very few people who met that standard.
What Marco truly counted on was the enormous network formed by all the Mage Guilds.
He did not expect them to randomly encounter the Black Dragon. It would be enough if they could discover traces of the Black Dragon's destruction.
If they could find those traces, then they could use them to observe the Black Dragon's condition and further track him.
So far, Fairy Tail had not received any news that might involve the Black Dragon.
During that time, there had been a report of a village being slaughtered and destroyed, but after an investigation by the local Mage Guild, it had been confirmed to be the work of a Dark Guild.
The review team sent by Fairy Tail reached the same conclusion. In the end, Fairy Tail sent mages to assist the local Mage Guild in wiping out that Dark Guild.
This incident had now been taken out and promoted as a typical case.
The reason for doing this was to encourage everyone to actively report major incidents that might be related to the Black Dragon.
Even if the reported incident was later verified to have nothing to do with the Black Dragon, Fairy Tail would still send specialists to handle such cruel matters, which could reduce a great deal of trouble for smaller Mage Guilds.
For example, in the incident mentioned above, if only the local Mage Guild had handled it themselves, they would have found it very difficult to eliminate the offending Dark Guild on their own.
All they could have done was strengthen their defenses.
Although that sounded somewhat pathetic, it was determined by the nature of guilds.
A normal Mage Guild was essentially a job platform where everyone worked to earn money.
Although every guild was now actively trying to strengthen its members' sense of belonging, asking mages to risk their lives fighting a Dark Guild for something "unrelated" was obviously difficult.
What about the people in Dark Guilds?
Their main work was smashing, looting, burning, destroying, and committing crimes everywhere. They believed that stealing by force was better than hard work. They lived their lives on the edge of a blade.
What normal mage living an ordinary life would be willing to risk their life fighting a Dark Guild?
Unless a heavy bounty was placed on it.
Under great rewards, brave men would always appear.
And if someone truly resolved to eliminate a Dark Guild, they still had to go through a long process before taking action, making the efficiency rather low.
First, they had to report it to the Magic Council. Then the Magic Council would investigate and confirm whether the matter was true.
After that, the Magic Council would coordinate and unite nearby guilds for a joint operation.
Finally, several guilds and the Magic Council's nearby forces would form a punitive coalition and attack the Dark Guild together.
This process was certainly safe and could minimize casualties as much as possible.
One could not say the Magic Council was doing anything wrong.
They were already quite diligent.
The new Magic Council was still very capable in matters like this. They had been working hard to restore the Magic Council's authority and credibility.
Combat units such as the Special Operations Force and the Custody Enforcement Unit had all been expanded, and they were actively deploying everywhere, cooperating with Mage Guilds to strike against Dark Guilds.
But compared to Fairy Tail's efficiency, the Magic Council was still lacking.
Although there was nothing wrong with how they handled things, the need for layer after layer of reporting and approval stretched the entire operation process very long.
Fairy Tail was different.
Everything was decided by Marco alone.
As long as Marco made a decision, Fairy Tail would immediately send people to launch a strike.
Receive a report, send an investigation team, confirm the situation, dispatch the strike team, and directly wipe out the target Dark Guild.
Fairy Tail's elite teams had long since grown used to this process.
When they wiped out Oración Seis and its subordinate Dark Guilds, Fairy Tail had destroyed more Dark Guild strongholds than anyone could count.
Practice made perfect.
When it came to dealing with Dark Guilds, Fairy Tail was professional. They guaranteed the problem would be removed at the root.
Most importantly, Fairy Tail had money.
A lot of money.
They would absolutely not mistreat mages who were willing to fight Dark Guilds. Even if everyone was willing to fight for justice without payment, Marco would not accept that.
Warriors must not be allowed to shed blood and tears at the same time.
Of course, not just anyone could join these investigation teams and strike teams.
At the very least, one had to be an A-Class Mage to qualify. Even then, one had to pass a strength assessment before joining.
Without sufficient ability, they would not even be qualified for the work.
Marco directly standardized the management of these teams and established the Special Operations Unit, which was specifically responsible for handling these issues.
The Special Operations Unit supported weaker Mage Guilds everywhere. Its work was not limited to dealing with Dark Guilds, but also included eliminating powerful magical beasts.
As long as something was beyond the ability of a weak Mage Guild to handle, they could come to Fairy Tail for help.
Moreover, the Special Operations Unit was not composed solely of Fairy Tail mages.
Mages from Quatro Cerberus and Blue Pegasus had also actively responded to Marco's call.
They were willing to contribute, to help eliminate Dark Guilds and support weaker Mage Guilds.
As true brother guilds deeply connected to Fairy Tail, Quatro Cerberus and Blue Pegasus had spiritual cores very similar to Fairy Tail's.
They would never sit back and ignore Dark Guilds committing evil.
Of course, it could not be denied that Marco paying extremely well was also part of the reason.
They could protect justice and receive extremely generous treatment at the same time, so naturally everyone was willing to respond actively.
...
As time passed, the guilds that wanted to join were no longer limited to the two true brother guilds, Quatro Cerberus and Blue Pegasus.
Powerful mages from other guilds were also willing to fight for justice and join the Special Operations Unit that struck against Dark Guilds.
Mermaid Heel and Lamia Scale also sent their own elite mages to join this force.
"Now, we will vote on the proposal to establish the Fiore Kingdom Mage Guild Alliance Special Operations Unit."
At the meeting of the Mage Guild Alliance Guild Masters, a vote was underway.
Visible to the naked eye, the "approve" votes on the large screen were soaring.
The proposal passed with an almost overwhelming advantage.
The opposing votes were in the single digits, and the abstentions were also only in the single digits.
"Good! I hereby announce that from today onward, the Fiore Kingdom Mage Guild Alliance Special Operations Unit is officially established!"