"ROOOAAR!!"
"ROOOAAR!!"
"ROOOAAR!!"
Hundreds of magical beasts howled in unison, their voices rolling together into a deafening tide that shook the heavens.
This time, it wasn't just Ur, even Gildarts and Mirajane, who had just stepped onto the castle grounds, had their expressions change drastically.
The number of magical beasts was too terrifying. Regardless of their individual combat strength, sheer numbers alone were enough to bury all of them alive.
The castle itself wasn't huge. Now, under the moonlight, as far as the eye could see around the castle, there were only two colors left: the pitch-black bodies of the magical beasts, and the crimson glow of hundreds of pairs of eyes.
"What's going on? Why are there so many magical beasts here?" Gildarts asked in shock.
Creatures corrupted by demonic power were known as magical beasts. Under normal circumstances, such beings were extremely rare, yet today, so many had appeared at once. How could he not be astonished?
"It's hard to explain everything right now." Ur shook his head, then walked up to the three remaining Beast Apostles.
With a grim expression, he grabbed one of them by the collar and demanded harshly, "You can see the situation for yourselves," Ur said coldly. "If you don't want to die, hand over a solution. Right now."
"It's useless. We're doomed!" The Beast The Apostle's face was deathly pale, and despair filled his eyes.
"These magical beasts were specially smuggled here by us—five hundred in total. They're all under someone's control now. Unless we can defeat the one controlling them, there's no way we can withstand this many magical beasts."
This Beast Apostle felt utterly wronged. They had spent enormous effort modifying and creating these magical beasts, all to strengthen the blond man's power—only to end up paving the way for someone else instead.
"Where is the controller right now?" Mirajane and Gildarts asked as they walked over.
Hearing this, the Beast Apostle glanced toward the pitch-black gate.
Following his gaze, Mirajane asked doubtfully, "Are you saying the controller is inside that?"
"No. That so-called controller is Singer. He's already fused with the demon and merged into that gate." Ur's face was ashen. Although he had already anticipated the answer before asking, hearing it confirmed still left him deeply disappointed.
Mirajane: "???"
Mirajane felt completely confused. The amount of information packed into Ur's words was overwhelming. She understood every word individually, but when put together, it made no sense.
Merged with a demon? Fused into a gate? Wasn't Singer supposed to be the mission target? How did he suddenly become the final boss?
Her mind was full of question marks, but she also knew this wasn't the time to ask. The most urgent issue was dealing with the herd of magical beasts below the castle.
"Is this the gate you're talking about?" Gildarts walked up to the pitch-black gate. After carefully examining it, he couldn't help but frown. He too sensed the hidden evil aura within the gate—strange and ominous.
"Yes. Singer is hiding inside." Ur nodded.
"Alright. You two step back. I'll try forcing him out." Compared to Mirajane, Gildarts had far broader experience. Even though he had only just heard part of the situation from Ur, he could roughly piece things together and quickly identify the crux of the problem.
Ur and Mirajane immediately retreated.
Boom!
Gildarts erupted with magic power. The terrifying surge of energy almost condensed into a beam of white light, dazzlingly bright in the darkness of night.
The Beast Apostles were so frightened their eyes nearly popped out. The sheer pressure of that magic alone made it hard for them to breathe. They had every reason to believe that even if all six members of their guild were still alive, they might not last a single exchange against this man.
Within Fairy Tail, Gildarts was second only to the guild master. His strength was already infinitely close to, if not outright at, the level of the Ten Wizard Saints. Combined with his awakened magic, it could be said that in terms of pure destructive power, Gildarts was very likely the strongest in the guild.
Even so, Ur wasn't optimistic about whether Gildarts could destroy the pitch-black gate.
Bang!
At that moment, Gildarts struck!
There was no earth-shaking spectacle, just a single punch slammed into the pitch-black gate. Immediately afterward, a large net formed of white magic slowly appeared, surging forward and crashing into the gate.
This was Gildarts' Crush magic.
This white magical net looked unassuming, but in reality, it was tyrannically powerful, capable of shredding almost anything and reducing all matter to dust.
But this time, Gildarts' Crush magic failed to crush the pitch-black gate. When the white net landed on it, it shattered instantly, dispersing into magic particles and vanishing into the void.
"It's useless. That gate is a secret treasure of our guild. Its original purpose was to protect the beast controller. No magic can destroy it." At that moment, one of the Beast Apostles suddenly spoke up.
"Then why does Singer know how to use your guild's secret treasure?" Ur asked, frowning.
"I don't know," the Apostle replied bitterly. "Maybe, it's because he devoured our guild master's memories."
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