"Natsu!"
"Natsu-san!" Lucy and Wendy could not help worrying.
But Natsu himself was laughing, and laughing hard at that.
"Hahaha! I told you, I figured out the trick. That move doesn't work on me anymore, so you'd better start using your full strength."
Even with his clothes in tatters, Natsu's fighting spirit was still blazing.
'What the hell is wrong with this guy?!'
Jackal's pupils trembled on their own, and for a moment his whole body seemed to stiffen.
'Why would a mere human make me shake like this...?!'
'No... is this guy even human? That's impossible!'
In Jackal's eyes, the Natsu walking toward him was no longer a person at all, but a monster wearing human skin.
Facing the advancing Natsu, Jackal clawed at his own hair and roared, his body beginning to change.
His height shot upward, his muscles swelled, coarse fur spread across his body, and sharp claws grew from his fingers until, true to his name, he transformed into a humanoid jackal.
"Natsu, be careful!" Lucy shouted in warning. "That should be the demonification Raizel talked about!"
"It'd be more accurate to call it his true form," Wendy corrected even at a time like this.
Jackal threw back his head and howled, leaving his chest wide open, and Natsu immediately took advantage of it, driving a flaming elbow straight into the center of his torso.
But in his demonized state, Jackal's mass and toughness had both increased dramatically, so the blow only forced him back a few steps.
"Perish, filthy humans!" Jackal bellowed, clenching his right fist and smashing it downward.
Natsu raised both arms to block, shoved the strike aside with brute force, then leapt up with a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist to the chin.
The moment Jackal's balance wavered, he followed with a Fire Dragon's Hook, slamming his foot into the left side of the demon's face, sprang even higher, and crashed his left fist straight into Jackal's snout, knocking the hulking beast flat onto the ground.
Then came the finisher.
"Lightning Fire Dragon's Firing Hammer!"
Golden arcs crackled through the flames, and the explosive force of that smashing punch was poured entirely into Jackal's body.
Lucy and Wendy were just about to celebrate—when Natsu's left foot, right elbow, right fist, and left fist all lit up with the same ominous golden glow.
BOOM!!!
The ground beneath Natsu collapsed with a thunderous blast, and he slowly toppled over.
In that instant, he had only managed to devour the explosions from both fists.
The curse marks on his elbow and leg had gone off before he could do anything about them.
"Natsu!"
"Even Natsu-san can't just shrug off an explosion that strong..."
Wendy ran over at once and began healing him with her magic.
"Natsu!" Happy, who had gone to help evacuate the townspeople, flew back in a panic.
"The enemy's too strong. Even Natsu could only barely force a draw."
"No," Natsu said weakly, raising his left hand with a trembling V sign. "I won."
"...He really did get beaten."
Jackal had reverted to human form and was sprawled on the ground, struggling, but he could not get back to his feet.
"This is the first time I've ever been beaten this badly... damn it. Sorry, Kyouka."
Several thin pillars of golden light began to rise from around Jackal's body.
Those beams spread outward from him in every direction!
"But at least I'll take all of you with me!"
"He's turning himself into a bomb!" Lucy reacted immediately. "He's going to blow up the whole village!"
She glanced at Natsu, who could no longer move, and made her decision on the spot.
"Wendy, help me!"
"Happy, Carla, grab his clothes and take him up!"
"No problem!"
"I won't let you do it!"
Happy and Carla shot forward at top speed, seized the powerless Jackal, and hauled him into the sky.
"Open, Gate of the Scorpion: Scorpio!"
"We are! Sand Buster!"
"Sky Dragon's Roar!"
"You can let go now!"
The instant Lucy gave the order, Happy and Carla released Jackal and darted away to either side.
Scorpio's sand tornado and Wendy's wind blast merged into one and hurled Jackal straight into the skies.
"Damn yooouuu!!!"
His unwilling roar echoed through the air—and then came the explosion.
BOOM!!!
A brilliant golden sphere bloomed in the sky.
It did not take much imagination to realize that if it had detonated in the village below, the entire place might have been wiped off the map.
"That was way too close..."
Happy and Carla came fluttering back down from the sky, both of them a little scorched black from the blast, though fortunately it was only superficial.
...
Elsewhere—
Gray and Juvia were riding a massive panther-like beast at full speed toward a nearby town, but as soon as they neared it, the creature suddenly skidded to a halt and crouched low to the ground.
"There's probably something ahead that terrifies it," Juvia said.
Unfortunately, they were already too late.
The town had long since been destroyed.
At this point it could practically be called a ghost town, and the former council member Hogue who had lived there was already dead.
"It's no use. We got here too late." Gray was speaking into a long-distance lacrima communication device as he reported back to Makarov.
"The situation here is horrifying..."
"Master Yuli is dead as well..." By the time Ultear and Kagura arrived, Yuli had already stopped breathing.
"What about Lady Belno?"
"We still haven't heard back from Raizel."
No sooner had Levy finished speaking than Raizel's figure appeared in the communication lacrima.
"Lady Belno is safe."
Belno had been Raizel's second target, Gajeel and Panther Lily were with him since Gajeel had insisted on coming along himself.
When Raizel arrived, he had run into the Dark Bishop Keyes.
The demon had tried to flee once he realized he was outmatched, but Raizel had cut him down with a single slash of his Dramon Sword.
Whether Keyes had truly died or not, Raizel did not know, but his body had dispersed.
Belno, much like Org, had clearly expected something like this.
Her husband and son were already gone, and living alone, she simply packed a few changes of clothes and left with Raizel and Gajeel.
They still had not found the residence of former Chairman Crawford Seam, but Raizel was not in a hurry.
Crawford was an obvious spy.
They were going after him, yes, but they would do it together.
"Three Organic Link hosts..." Makarov muttered.
He had already reported the matter, and many guilds across Ishgar had begun moving to protect former council members in their respective regions.
Ur rested her chin on her hand and thought it through.
"Since F.A.C.E. still hasn't activated, that means at least one of the three is still alive."
"I think one of them may be me," Jellal said after arriving at Fairy Tail.
As a former council member, he naturally knew the activation conditions for F.A.C.E.
"Why?" the others asked, puzzled.
Out of so many council members, and without even being told directly, how could Jellal know?
Jellal explained calmly, "Because I used to be a councilor, and I'm also one of the Ten Wizard Saints. Compared to the other council members, most of whom have little real ability to protect themselves, I'm obviously much harder to kill."
Just as everyone was beginning to feel relieved, Jellal added,
"But that doesn't mean I'm safe. The Organic Link can be transferred between council members using Super Archive Magic. In other words, they don't need to kill me to change the key."
"Super Archive Magic... the former chairman!" Makarov reacted immediately.
"Exactly. I believe the spy is him." Having once worked alongside Crawford, Jellal knew very well how greedy and power-hungry the man had always been.
Among the nine council members from Crawford's era, aside from Org, Yajima, and Belno, the rest could only be described as greedy fools with more ambition than sense.