Fairy Tail: I Really Don't Want to Be the Guild Master-Chapter 10: Face

"Leave the demonic particles to us. You should all rest first."

Mira was already prepared to depart.

In truth, she could have handled it alone, but she knew no one would feel at ease if she went out by herself in her current condition.

If she encountered an enemy now, she wouldn’t be able to fight freely. That hesitation alone could create even greater danger for everyone else.

That was why, when the Thunder God Tribe first returned, she hadn’t acted immediately. Instead, she had waited for Rhodes to come back, planning to go together.

Rhodes nodded. "Agreed. This needs to be dealt with quickly. Let’s go."

"I’ll come too," Freed said. "I’ve already set up a ’No Entry’ enchantment around the area."

"Alright."

The three departed at once, traveling by dragon.

It wasn’t until nightfall that they returned to the guild.

Purifying the demonic particles themselves hadn’t taken long, essentially, it was just Mira transforming and releasing a controlled breath.

The real trouble lay elsewhere.

They had to deal with the small animals that had already died from poisoning in the contaminated forest. Then there was the town, explaining what had happened to Mr. Yajima to the mayor, calming fears before rumors could spread and panic could take hold.

By the time everything was finished and they finally returned, the guild was much quieter than usual.

Makarov and Yajima were sitting cross-legged on the counter, drinking in silence.

"You’re back," Makarov said, setting his glass down.

He wasn’t really enjoying the alcohol, it was mostly to steady Yajima.

"Good timing. Mr. Org just contacted us. After talking with Yajima, he remembered something important."

Rhodes and Mira sat down opposite them. Freed glanced around for Laxus, didn’t see him, and joined them.

Makarov continued, "To be precise, it’s about Tartaros’s real objective."

Yajima also put his glass down, his expression grave.

"Their attacks on current and former Council Members were most likely aimed at face."

"Face?" Rhodes frowned. The word meant nothing to him.

He glanced at Mira and Freed, both looked equally confused.

"Face is a codename," Yajima said slowly. "Its true name is the Magic Pulse Bomb." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"It’s a weapon capable of erasing magic across the entire continent."

Freed sucked in a sharp breath. "Across the... entire continent?!"

Mira instinctively covered her stomach with her right hand. "Then all Magicians would..."

"Yes," Yajima said quietly. "Once face is activated, no Magician will be able to use magic. All magic items will fail."

"That level of Magic Deficiency Syndrome would be catastrophic."

Rhodes repeated the name under his breath. "Magic Pulse Bomb..."

No wonder it sounded familiar.

It was the magical equivalent of an EMP, one shut down machines, the other shut down magic itself.

Considering the Council possessed Etherion, a continent-level weapon already, something like face wasn’t unthinkable at all.

"It’s a ’white legacy’ left behind by the Council of the generation before last, possibly even older," Yajima said with clear distaste. "Something that should have been sealed away permanently."

"Even among Council Members, only a handful of old men like us ever knew it existed."

Freed hesitated, then asked, "But if magic disappears... wouldn’t Tartaros be affected too?"

He turned to Rhodes.

Rhodes nodded. "Normally, yes. But Tartaros doesn’t use magic."

"They use Curse."

"I don’t know the exact origin of Curse, but it’s clearly a separate power system. Activating face would cripple every magic-based force, and leave Tartaros standing alone."

Mira pressed on, voice tense. "Then where is face? If we find it first and destroy it..."

Yajima shook his head.

"No one knows where face is."

"Neither current nor former Council Members have the authority to activate it."

He paused, then added, "What we do know is this: face is sealed, and the authority to unseal it is bound to three Council Members via Living Link Magic."

Freed frowned. "So... which three?"

"No one knows," Yajima said grimly. "Not even the Council Members themselves."

"And with the recent rotations, we don’t even know whether that authority was transferred... or erased entirely."

Yajima didn’t need to explain further.

Tartaros’s objective was obvious: assassinate Council Members to unseal face.

They didn’t care which three individuals the Living Link Magic was bound to. As long as all Council Members were dead, the seal would inevitably collapse.

Simple. Brutal. Efficient.

Compared to that, the minds of those who designed both face and the previous weapon-storage systems were... questionable at best.

Etherion became completely unusable if even one person in the authorization chain met with an accident.

Face, on the other hand, would automatically unseal if three people died.

What were they thinking?

Rhodes genuinely couldn’t understand it.

"So our top priority now," he said slowly, "is ensuring the safety of all former, and even earlier former, Council Members?"

Makarov nodded.

"Yajima and Mr. Org know the addresses of some of them. We’ve already dispatched people, and Mr. Org has also commissioned a few nearby guilds for protection."

Rhodes rubbed his temple, a dull headache forming.

Among the former Council Members, the Speaker had already defected and joined the enemy. Of the remaining nine, Yajima and Org, who were attacked today, were still alive.

Beyond them, there were likely seven or eight members from even earlier generations still living.

Protecting that many people individually risked spreading their forces too thin. A concentrated enemy assault could easily overwhelm isolated guards.

But gathering them together carried its own danger, Tartaros possessed too many unknown abilities. One successful infiltration could wipe everyone out in a single strike.

No wonder the saying went: A thief can lie in wait for a thousand days; a guard cannot stay vigilant for a thousand nights.

Worse still, although two members of the Nine Demon Gates had already self-destructed, Tempester’s case proved the enemy had methods of resurrection.

In practical terms, the current exchange stood at:

Enemy casualties: 0.

Their losses: 8 Council Members.

A disastrous opening.

The only piece of good news was that the three Council Members acting as the "keys" clearly weren’t all among the dead.

Otherwise, there would have been no reason to attack Yajima afterward.

Rhodes thought for a moment, then said, "Which addresses can be confirmed right now? I’ll take one as well."

Passive defense wasn’t enough.

The best solution was still the same: destroy Tartaros.

Their headquarters was hard to locate, but with activity this frequent, they were bound to expose themselves sooner or later.

And Rhodes just happened to have a method he wanted to test.

Makarov replied, "Gajeel, Panther Lily, and Laxus were the first to move. They’ve gone to Ms. Belno’s residence. It’s far, so Lisanna is flying them there by airship."

It was... an odd-looking team.

But in terms of combat power, it was more than reassuring.

The only concern was transportation, neither Gajeel nor Laxus were exactly compatible with airships.

Still, it wasn’t a serious issue.

If they encountered enemies mid-flight, Lily could fight alongside Gajeel, and Lisanna could temporarily serve as Laxus’s ’Exceed.’

Motion sickness wouldn’t slow them down.

The arrangement was sound.

Unfortunately, Freed looked openly jealous.

...

Read upto 30 Chapters ahead @keepsmiling 818 p@reon