"Do not forget, I used to be part of the Magic Council. What makes you think I would not have a backup there?"
As he spoke, Brain watched Jellal's expression finally change, his face darkening, and let out a mocking chuckle.
"As for you, just keep plotting your little childish schemes."
"Heh heh, hahaha..."
Laughing full of ridicule, Brain cut off the connection.
Jellal, seething, hurled a magic sphere and blew apart the floating lacrima that had been projecting the screen, venting his rage in an explosion of shards and dust.
"Ultear, you truly deserve death."
The angrier he became, the deeper his resentment toward Ultear grew.
If it were not for that woman, he would not have had to lower himself to approach Brain, nor suffer being mocked by that rat hiding in the sewers.
While he was raging impotently and lashing out at anything around him...
Outside, a streak of white light cut across the sky, and three figures appeared above the towering structure that rose like a spike from the lonely island in the sea.
"So this is the Tower of Heaven? It really is impressively ugly."
Looking down at the hideous spire below, its twisted form coiling upward like rotting tree roots, Kabe's face twisted in disgust.
Under normal circumstances, Erza would have looked at this tower, which counted as one of the greatest nightmares of her childhood, and said something heavy, something sad.
Right now, though, after that insane high speed flight, she had only one thought left in her head.
"Please, land, I am begging you."
Seeing his girlfriend's lips literally pale, Kabe quickly dropped altitude and found an open patch of ground to touch down.
The moment they felt solid ground beneath their feet, Erza and Ultear tore themselves from his arms and collapsed forward, bracing themselves against the earth as they gasped for breath.
"I I am alive. I never, ever want to experience that kind of flight again in my life."
Ultear ground out the words between clenched teeth, then shot Kabe a vicious glare.
Kabe had just opened his mouth, about to snap back, when he heard a rush of footsteps in his ears.
A heartbeat later, a squad of guards in uniform, steel helmets on their heads and long iron spears in hand, surrounded the three of them in a tight ring.
Beside the guards were strange canine magic beasts, their skin a dull pink, their faces eyeless. They bared their teeth at the three intruders, eager to pounce at any moment.
"Intruders discovered on the eastern shore. Requesting reinforcements. We absolutely cannot let them escape."
These people had no intention of asking who the three were. The moment they saw them, they shouted and launched their attack.
Kabe waved his arm. A casual sweep of wind exploded outward, lifting the guards and their beasts off their feet and flinging them clean out of sight.
Then he turned to the two women, who were finally starting to catch their breath and pushing themselves upright.
"The defenses here are even tighter than I expected. At this rate, Jellal probably already knows we are here."
Feeling the strongest presence at the top of the tower, Kabe resisted the urge to simply lob a ki blast and erase the whole structure. He turned his eyes to Erza instead.
"So, what do you say? Do we wait for him to come to us, or do we rush in, grab him, and slap him a few times until he comes back to his senses?"
Erza shot him a displeased look.
"Do not act recklessly. I want to try and talk to him first."
"Oh, talk some sense into him first, huh. Fine."
Kabe dragged out his words, smacking his lips once, then shoved his hands in his pockets and strode toward the twisted spire with a sulky air.
Watching his back, tense with unspoken irritation, Ultear hesitated, then leaned close to Erza and whispered a reminder,
"You are showing a little too much concern for Jellal. It looks like someone is jealous."
"Eh, I am?"
Erza blinked, then flailed her hands in a panic.
"I I do not mean anything else by it. It is just that Jellal and the others are my friends. I simply do not want to see my friends getting hurt."
Ultear rolled her eyes.
"Why are you explaining that to me? Go explain it to him."
"Ah, right."
Realization finally dawning, Erza hurried after Kabe, catching up to him and anxiously saying something at his side.
Seeing this, Ultear could only shake her head helplessly, then quickened her steps to follow.
The commotion they had caused soon drew more guards from around the island.
News of intruders landing on the island climbed level by level through the chain of command until it reached Jellal and the other leaders at the top.
"Intruders, you say?"
Jellal, who had only just regained a shred of calm, heard the report through a magic communication link and immediately had a bad feeling.
He hurriedly activated the surveillance magic connecting him to all parts of the island and saw three figures who were already tearing their way into the Tower of Heaven.
When he saw their faces clearly, Jellal's pupils shrank in shock, but almost at once, the corners of his lips curled into an alluring, dangerous smile.