A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

"Hehe, Erza won!" Kira chuckled in agreement. "The enemy we encountered this time was formidable; it was a very powerful demon! I almost couldn't defeat it!"

"Really? It seems Natsu still has a long way to go! Hahaha..."

"Yes, yes, and we also encountered Gildarts on this mission."

Makarov exclaimed in surprise, "Really? Is he alright? How did the mission go? Did he come back with you?"

"I'm in alright, but the mission failed. I didn't come back because I had to go tell the client."

Hearing Kira's reply, Makarov was slightly relieved: "Really? That's good... It's good that he's still alive."

After saying that, he took a sip of wine to calm his nerves. "As far as I know, I've never heard of anyone coming back alive from this mission before."

"Oh, right, we also encountered Acnologia on this mission. We almost died, thank goodness..."

puff--!

Maklov spat out the wine, but Kira had anticipated it and dodged it by sidestepping.

"You little rascal, are you trying to scare me on purpose?"

Of all the magic guild leaders in the Kingdom of Fiore, Maklov was arguably the most knowledgeable. He had even heard of the world-destroying dragon mentioned in the Apocalypse.

"It must have been incredibly difficult to come back alive from its clutches."

Even without witnessing it firsthand, Maklov could imagine how dangerous the mission must have been.

He didn't doubt Kira's words; he could just ask other people to find out if it was true or not. Most importantly, as a parent, he believed in his child.

Kira nodded and said softly, "Yes, if it weren't for Gildarts—"

Maklov understood: "So it really was Gildas who saved you, no wonder..."

"If it weren't for Gildas, we wouldn't have met Acnologia."

"Cough cough..."

Kira pretended to be nonchalant: "Huh? Chairman, what's wrong?"

"Guild Master!" Seeing Makarov completely unconcerned about the guild's current situation, even chatting and laughing with Kira, Natsu was both angry and anxious. "Why can you act like nothing happened?! This is our home!!"

"Alright, Natsu! Everyone feels the same way!" Seeing Makarov's troubled expression, Kira interrupted Natsu, "Try to understand the Chairman's difficulties sometimes, and don't always put pressure on him!"

Hearing this, Makarov felt a surge of relief. Kira was such a good boy!

Watching Makarov's departing figure, Natsu was even more puzzled: "Kira? How can you still laugh in this situation? Aren't you angry?"

"Of course we're angry, but since the guild master is mindful of the agreement between magic guilds, we can't put him in a difficult position!" Kira shrugged helplessly. "If a dog bites you, are you going to bite it back?"

Hearing this, Natsu assumed Killer was also going to put up with it, so he shouted in dissatisfaction, "Are we just going to put up with this...?"

Before he could finish speaking, Kira continued, "At least we should hire a better chef! By the way, although I've never eaten dog meat before, I've heard that it's delicious and very nutritious. Let's try it sometime."

"Uh... Kira?"

"Don't worry! As long as no one sees it, it wasn't us!"

"You don't mean to..."

"Get him!"

Upon hearing Kira's words, everyone smiled knowingly: "That's more like it."

Suddenly, Kira remembered something and reminded the guild members, "By the way, everyone be careful these next few days. The guy who smashed up our guild should still be hanging around nearby, so don't get separated!"

It wasn't that Kira didn't want to protect his companions, but Gajeel's goal was to lure the Chairman to Phantom Lord. Even if it wasn't the Wheel Squad, it would have been someone else. He couldn't possibly follow everyone around like a madman to protect them, so in the end, he could only choose to speak up and warn them.

Anyway, no one will die; he'll regret it later.

That night, a massive regional earthquake struck the Spectre Dominator guild, reducing the entire guild to ruins.

When Kira returned to Fairy Tail refreshed, he discovered that Levy and her two companions had been attacked again the previous night. Fortunately, thanks to Kira's warning, Erza arrived in time and rescued the trio from Gajeel, saving them from the ordeal of being hung up and tattooed.

"Damn it! I can tolerate the destruction of the guild, but I will never let someone who attacks my family get away with it!"

The attack on the Wheel Squad enraged Makarov so much that his veins bulged. In front of the guild, he loudly announced to everyone, "Let's wage war against the rulers of the Spectres!"

Before leaving, Kira instructed, "Joseph won't suddenly break the guild alliance and start a war; he definitely has ulterior motives! Those of you who aren't going to fight should stay in the guild to avoid a repeat of what happened to Levy! I'm entrusting Mira, Lucy, and Levy to your care!"

"Don't worry!" With eight golden celestial keys in hand, Lucy was now full of confidence.

Then, Kira handed something else to Makarov: "Chairman, take this!"

"What is this?" Maklov was too angry to examine it closely, but he knew Kira wouldn't harm him, so he simply accepted it and kept it on his person.

"A detached magic source! Bring it along just in case. I heard that there's someone in Spectre who can use detachment magic. They deliberately started a war to lure us there. If they don't intend to take advantage of the situation to do something to the guild or the people who stayed behind, then they might be targeting you. You must be careful!"

Hearing Kira's analysis, Makarov calmed down a bit: "I understand. It seems that sending you to investigate Phantom's intelligence was the right thing to do!"

Maklov knew he should stand up for his family, but he also knew he was the pillar of the family, and if he were to fall, no one else could stop Joseph.

"Let's go! Let's avenge our family!"

Chapter 97 War Begins

Vokur, the city of the Spectres.

"Damn it! This must be Fairy Tail's doing!"

Inside the makeshift guild hall, Joseph, the guild master of Phantom Assassin and also one of the Ten Wizard Saints, slammed his fist on the table in anger. "I never expected that old bastard Makarov to be so tough, daring to launch a night raid?!"

Joseph wore a tall hat, a dark purple magic robe, and had a mustache. He looked to be in his forties or fifties, with a hideous, gloomy, and ugly face.

"Tch... What's there to be angry about!" Gajeel, who had just returned, sat at the bar, eating iron and drinking, completely ignoring Joseph's temper. "I smashed their guild, so they smashed ours. Isn't that normal?"

Joseph was speechless. He was never one to suffer a loss, especially not against Makarov. He hadn't settled the score from the regular meeting six years ago: "You did what I told you to do, and took action against the Fairy Tail people, didn't you?"

Gajeel laughed triumphantly: "Of course! If Erza hadn't arrived at the last minute, I would have strung those guys up and beaten them to a pulp!"

"Hmph! Well done!" Joseph laughed heartily, then ordered the guild members, "Get ready, they'll probably be attacking soon!"

"Oh, so we're going to war with Fairy Tail?"

"I'm so excited!"

"After this, we will be the strongest guild in the Kingdom of Fiore!!!"

Amidst the shouts of his underlings, Joseph turned and left triumphantly.

The cheers in the Ghost Tavern didn't last long before they were interrupted by a loud crash. Everyone turned to look and saw that members of Fairy Tail had stormed in and completely destroyed their makeshift base.

Makarov, who was at the front, transformed into a giant and roared, "Joseph!! Come out here!!"

A gigantic slap sent more than a dozen people flying, signaling the start of the battle.

Maklov ignored everything and ran straight into the depths. Right now, all he wanted to do was beat Joseph up. The rest of the Fairy Tail members were also ruthless and taciturn guys, and they started fighting without saying a word.

That's true. It's clear that war is about to break out here, and the other side knows that their actions will provoke a guild war. At this point, who cares about anything else? They'll just start using magic, fists, and weapons.

The moment the handover began, the most intense offensive commenced.

"The fire dragon's..."

“ICEMAKE…”

"Changing clothes..."

"..."

No one in Fairy Tail attacks without being enraged, and the Phantom Lords are all warmongers.

Fists flew up and down, weapons rose and fell, attacking from all sides, and magic of all colors emerged one after another. Shouts from all sides resounded throughout the heavens and the earth! The sounds of fists and feet colliding, weapons clashing, guns firing, magic exploding, angry shouts, and wails blended together, shouts soared to the sky, and cries echoed everywhere.

In terms of numbers, Phantom Troupe is several times larger than Fairy Tail, but in terms of individual strength, one Fairy Tail member is equivalent to three Phantom Troupe minions, and some can even take on ten at once. Therefore, in terms of basic strength, the two sides can be said to be evenly matched.

"go to hell!"

"Accept!"

"You bastard, take this punch!"

Soon, the gap in high-end combat capabilities became apparent in the battle.

Faced with these weaklings, Erza, Killer, Natsu, and Gray were virtually invincible, like tigers among sheep; no one could withstand them. Killer's single attack, "Rain of Bullets," was equivalent to the fighting power of a hundred or so people, until…

Jingle bells!

The collision of metal sparked a fleeting flash of light. In the midst of the battle, a bullet conjured by Kira's Word of Power magic was blocked by an iron shield—it was Gajeel.

"Hey, isn't this Tielong? Haven't seen you in a while, you've gotten even more annoying!"

Gajeel's eyes were full of provocation: "I didn't get to fight in the Council last time, but I won't miss this time! I've been waiting for this moment for a long time! Come on, let's have a good fight!"

"Too bad, your opponent isn't me!" Kira grinned, returning a mocking glance. "Natsu, knock him out!"

"?!"

Before Gajeel could react, Natsu charged from his side, his flaming fist slamming into Gajeel's face, sending him flying several meters before crashing into nearby Phantom Troupe members.

Kira didn't even look at them, and ran straight towards Makarov: "I'll leave this to you guys."

Seeing this, several extras blocked Kira's way. They might not know Joseph's plan, but their orders were to stop everyone except Makarov here.

"I won't let you pass... Ah!!"

Kira kicked one of the charging minions away: "You mere extras trying to ride on my coattails?"

Shoot people first, shoot horses, and capture thieves first.

Joseph's plan, though crude, was very effective. He knew that once Makarov fell, the Fairy Tail members, even if they could still fight, would suffer a great loss in morale. So he specifically had his subordinate Aria learn "Sky Destroy" to ambush the old man.

For mages, magic power is equivalent to physical strength, and even more so to life force.

It is a well-known concept that people with abundant magic power are naturally in good spirits, while those with little magic power are weak in strength.

As long as a mage still has a little magic power in their body, they can slowly recover. However, if a mage is in a state of low magic power for a long time, they will suffer from magic deficiency syndrome, which can lead to serious illness or even death.

The most insidious aspect of this Void Annihilation technique is that it can completely deplete the opponent's magic power. Once it succeeds, the mage will be depleted of magic power and unable to regenerate it, naturally resulting in a severe magic power deficiency!

If the scattered magic power cannot be collected and returned to the mage's body in time, the mage will only face death!

Joseph knew that Makarov would definitely come to seek revenge in person and would not allow anyone else to interfere in their battle. This gave him an opportunity. As long as he had his subordinates block the others from Fairy Tail and leave Makarov alone, he could launch a sneak attack and win in one fell swoop. At that time, no one else could stop him, a Wizard of Ten.

The idea was great, but unfortunately it ran into Kira.