A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Maklov's face darkened again: "You...you actually dare to lay a hand on my family?!"

"What are you saying, Makarov!" Joseph seemed completely unconcerned, his expression arrogant. "You were the one who started the war! Aren't we already enemies?"

"To prevent any unforeseen circumstances, I've already sent two S-rank mages from the guild ahead. Your guild's main force is all here; no one can protect their families anymore, Makarov!"

"You bastard!!!"

Makarov's roar signified the loss of reason, and seeing this, Joseph's face lit up with joy, revealing a cunning smile of triumph.

'Now!'

Aliya appeared instantly behind Maklov.

"Oh no!" Maklov exclaimed in alarm. His anger had made him careless, and he hadn't noticed the enemy quietly approaching.

"Airspace, destroyed!"

Chapter 102 Stealing the House

As Aria unleashed her ultimate attack...

"defense!"

Two spells erupted simultaneously around Maklov.

At the critical moment, Kira made his move, narrowly defending against the sneak attack!

Apart from Kira himself, the three of them were all startled.

"Hmph! I knew you'd be waiting here!" Kira smugly withdrew his hand, looking at the flustered Joseph and Aria, and said, "The idea is good, but once the scheme is seen through, it's worthless!"

At that moment, Maklov reacted quickly, extending his right hand and punching Aliya in the face, sending him flying.

"You're really getting old. You were almost ambushed. Luckily, you reacted quickly, Kira!"

"Ok!"

"But what about the guild..."

Kira reassured them, "Don't worry about the guild either. I've left special magical items for Lucy and Mira, they'll be fine!"

Hearing that Kira was prepared, Makarov felt relieved. Although Kira was usually unserious, he was reliable in crucial moments: "That's good!"

However, just in case, Makarov decided to leave first, since Joseph wasn't there anyway.

"Now, do you have any more tricks up your sleeve?" Kira said to Joseph, who was somewhat flustered, as he stood on the fallen Aria. "If not, it's my turn to play!"

"Heh heh heh heh ha ha ha ha..." After a burst of laughter, Joseph said viciously, "I really underestimated you, 'Sage' Kira! If it were just those two guys, I would have truly lost! Fortunately..."

"Thank goodness?" Kira's heart tightened. Did this old guy have another trick up his sleeve?

"Yes, thank goodness! Thank goodness I went in person. The items you left behind could defeat my two S-rank mages, but could they possibly defeat me, one of the Ten Wizard Saints?"

What a blunder! I never expected that old bastard Joseph would actually disregard his reputation and personally get involved!

It seems we really can't completely trust the plot from our memories; once there are any changes, everything falls apart!

Kira sighed: "You, an old man nearing fifty, trying to trick us when we weren't looking! Trying to ambush us! Is that a good idea?"

Maklov realized something was wrong and yelled at Kira, "Tell everyone to go back immediately!"

"Too late, Chairman!" Kira shook his head.

"what?"

"The Spectres' headquarters is a castle with teleportation magic, which means that Joseph should already be riding his mount in Magnolia!"

"What did you say?!"

……

"What...is that?"

As Lucy and Mira approached the guild's entrance, they suddenly felt a darkness envelop them, as if the sky had been blocked by something enormous. When they turned around, they saw a massive mechanical castle.

Mira recognized the pattern engraved on it at a glance: "That emblem... is a Phantom!"

Joseph stepped out and stood atop Phantom Lord's castle, looking down at Mira and Lucy on the ground, as well as the Fairy Tail guild members who had stayed behind because they were unable to participate in the battle, and who had come out of the guild tavern.

Mira's body trembled uncontrollably; the battle had just taken most of her magic: "That person is... the guild master of the Spectres, Joseph Paula! Why is he here?"

Lucy exclaimed, "That's Joseph? A mage who's one of the Ten Wizard Saints, just like the Guild Master?"

"What? The guild master of Phantom Lord?"

"Damn it! Of all times..."

"What should we do? We can't possibly beat them on our own!"

Listening to her friends' discussion, Lucy broke out in a cold sweat and gripped Mira's hand even tighter.

"Oh, oh, oh... 'Demon' Mira... It's been so long since I've heard from you!" Joseph's ugly face revealed a lewd smile in the sunlight. "I didn't expect you two could actually defeat two of my S-rank subordinates. You're truly remarkable!"

"But that's where it ends!"

Mira shouted at the top of her lungs, "Joseph! What are you trying to do? You've violated the guild agreement and attacked another guild without permission! Neither the council nor the guild leader will let you get away with this!"

"Then let him come! If Fairy Tail is still around!"

"What did you say?"

As soon as the words were spoken, a mechanical sound came from the castle in front of them, and then a huge cannon was erected, its black muzzle pointed at Fairy Tail Guild.

Those who recognized it exclaimed, "That's a magic cluster cannon!"

The Phantom's magic cannon, Jupiter, uses four large magic crystal devices to absorb magic power as its energy source. Four conveyor belts transport the massive amount of magic power collected by the magic crystals to the main cannon, where it is compressed to generate astonishing energy. Finally, this energy is fired out through the cannon's muzzle. This is roughly the principle behind magic cannons.

Kira used this principle in the card he named 'Moon Shatterer' to break the membrane of the Moon Drop on Galna Island.

Lucy was dumbfounded when she saw the magic cluster cannon in front of her. How could she possibly block such a weapon?

Atop the castle, Joseph, his expression frenzied, activated the magic cannon: "Fire! Jupiter Cannon!!!"

"Mirasan, watch out!!!"

"Lucy! Danger!!"

"Get out of the way!!"

Mira reacted quickly enough, grabbing Lucy's hand to pull away, but it was too late!

Boom!! The Jupiter cannon fired in response!!

The deafening roar of cannons filled the air; a terrifying guild was about to raze Fairy Tail to the ground when—

Seemingly sensing danger, dozens of golden beams of light shot up from about ten meters away from the guild.

To everyone's astonishment, a golden magic circle appeared in each beam of light. These dozens of magic circles resonated with each other, connecting to form a huge defensive magic shield that enveloped the guild.

The dazzling magical barrier was covered with countless magical characters. These characters were ancient, mysterious, and difficult to understand. They were hard to learn, and in Fairy Tail, only the guild master Makarov could use them.

"This is... Amaterasu Defense Magic Array?!" Mira exclaimed in surprise. "No... wait, it seems a little different..."

The Amaterasu series of magic is extremely profound. In Fairy Tail, it can only be learned with the guild master's permission. Even Gildarts doesn't know it. Even Mira has only heard Maklov mention it once, but has never seen him use it.

"saved!"

"Great!"

All the minor characters in Fairy Tail were extremely grateful, thankful to have survived such a close call.

"Damn it!" Joseph roared again. "A triggered defensive magic spell? I didn't expect that old bastard Makarov had such a trump card up his sleeve!"

"But how long can a magic circle without anyone providing magic power last?"

Joseph waved his hand, and countless bolts of darkness, like bullets, shot towards the golden barrier before him: "Dark Shot!!"

The magic stirred up countless plumes of dust, but the defensive magic array showed no flaws.

Joseph was unaware that Kira had no shortage of magic crystals, which served as energy reserves for numerous magical items.

"No, this can't go on for long!" Mira rushed back to the guild. "The guild leader and the others didn't bring any communication crystals, so we'll have to try contacting other people!"

……

"Damn it!" Joseph's mental form was filled with hatred, his breath reeking of stench, and he was furious.

Kira, however, acted as if nothing had happened: "What's wrong, old man? The cannon's useless now!"

"Did you do this? I really underestimated you!"

Maklov looked completely bewildered: "Kira, what on earth is going on?"

"Oh, it's nothing!" Kira gave his old man a look that said, "I've got everything under control." "I set up a trigger-type defensive magic circle around the guild a long time ago! This guy wants to sneak in, but his magic cannon won't be enough!"

"A magic cannon?!" Maklov's blood pressure spiked. "This isn't some ordinary attack; the magic you cast..."

Kira looked up and thought for a moment: "It's my improved Amaterasu defensive magic circle! Combined with the reserve magic crystals I placed earlier, it should hold out for a while, right? Speaking of which, because this battle was so rushed, I haven't even used the magic crystals I collected in Zonia last time..."

"What magic crystal... wait! You just mentioned Amaterasu magic? When did you learn that?"

"What we saw in the library... that's not important! Shall we leave now?"

"Not so easy!" Joseph's mental form shouted, blocking their path, then laughed wildly, "Jupiter's filling only takes an hour, but it's half a day's drive from here to Magnolia. Do you think you can make it back in time?"

Since Joseph did not use the Living Link spell on Jupiter as in the original work, the filling speed was slower, but this also meant that it would not stop when the four elements were defeated.

"By the time you return to Magnolia, Fairy Tail will have been reduced to rubble by me!"

What he needs to do now is to hold off Makarov until he reaches his main body, break the defensive shield, destroy Fairy Tail, steal Lucy, and kill the remaining Fairy Tail members along the way.

"If you want to go back, you'll have to get past me first!"

"Exactly what I want!"

Chapter 103 Not all fire is edible.

Joseph's thought form only has about 30% of the strength of his original body. Although it is not strong, it is enough to buy time!

"Kira, I'll take care of this guy. You get everyone to retreat!"