Fairy Tail: I Really Don't Want to Be the Guild Master-Chapter 7 - 91

"Damn it, why are all the Tartaros members the same?" Rhodes muttered. "Lose the fight and blow themselves up?"

He circled the site of the self-destruction, inspecting the scorched ground.

"He didn’t even leave a speck behind." Rhodes sounded disappointed, though part of him was relieved, it saved a great deal of effort.

The last self-destructing demon he’d encountered hadn’t packed much raw power, but it had released a massive amount of demon-particles, contaminating an entire mountain and warping the local wildlife.

This Jackal’s explosion, on the other hand, was far stronger, but clean.

No lingering corruption. No strange residue.

Otherwise, Rhodes would’ve had to seriously consider whether to bring his wife along to help with the cleanup.

All things considered, aside from blowing up the Council headquarters, Jackal hadn’t caused excessive environmental damage.

A model demon, by Tartaros standards.

Rhodes shifted into his Ocean Dragon form and unleashed a torrent of water, rapidly cooling and solidifying the magma pool.

Next came Cloud Dragon, a powerful gust dispersed the toxic gases still lingering in the air.

Finally, he switched to Mountain Dragon, reshaping the fractured ground and leveling the terrain.

Rhodes exhaled slowly.

The biggest difference between him and the rest of Fairy Tail was probably this, he cleaned up after himself.

"How’s it going here?"

As Rhodes returned to the Council ruins, he immediately cast a wide-area healing spell.

Org thanked him first, then spoke gravely.

"The situation is... not optimistic. More than half of the personnel at headquarters are gone. Of the survivors, nearly all are injured."

He paused.

"If Lahar hadn’t led the team out to greet you and Master Makarov, the casualties would’ve been even worse."

"My condolences," Rhodes said quietly.

If history repeated itself, the magic world would fall into chaos again, and with Tartaros now moving openly, peace wouldn’t come anytime soon.

Org glanced behind him. "Where is the enemy?"

"I tried to bring him back for questioning," Rhodes replied, shaking his head. "He self-destructed."

Org closed his eyes briefly.

"Rest for now," Rhodes added. "I’ll help where I can."

Cube - Tartaros, Deep Laboratory

Rows of transparent tanks large enough to submerge a human stood in two neat lines.

Thick pipes connected to each tank, but a closer look revealed they weren’t pipes at all.

They were tentacles. Slowly writhing.

Several tanks were active, filled with bubbling blue fluid. Inside them were Magicians taken from Tartaros’s subordinate guilds, undergoing demonization.

Stronghold Franmalth oversaw the process.

Around him scurried a group of short women in white coats.

Every one of them had the same face.

Each wore a tag labeled 1/16, and each had a pair of black rabbit, or donkey, ears.

One of them complained while running past,

"Why are they all so ugly? Not a single handsome one!"

The others echoed her complaint in perfect unison.

"Exactly! Not one handsome guy!"

"Enough, Lamy!" Franmalth barked. "You’re too loud!"

"The problem isn’t their looks, it’s their quality!"

He gestured irritably at the tanks.

"None of these can even compare to Minerva, the one Big Sister Kyoka brought back. Modifying them is just burning money!"

"Do you know how much this costs?! Huh? How much?!"

"Fafafafafa."

The Lamys burst into shrill laughter.

Before it could continue, one empty tank erupted in a surge of white bubbles.

A head emerged.

Then shoulders.

Then a full body.

Jackal.

But he looked wrong, his form was unstable, translucent, as if his body hadn’t fully reconstituted.

"Damn it," Jackal snapped. "Hurry up and regenerate me!"

Franmalth stared. "Jackal? You died?!"

"Those useless Council idiots actually killed you?!"

"Jackal!" the Lamys wailed theatrically. "Who killed such a cute Jackal?!"

"Don’t call me cute!" Jackal snarled. "You’re disgusting, stay away!"

"And I wasn’t killed! I self-destructed!"

That’s basically the same thing.

Franmalth changed tack. "Then what kind of enemy forced you to do that?"

Jackal calmed down, thinking.

"I saw his emblems. Two of them."

"One was the Ten Wizard Saints."

"And the other, Tempester mentioned it before. The one who killed him."

"Fairy Tail?" Franmalth narrowed his eye.

"Yes!" Jackal growled. "Once I finish regenerating, I’ll blow them all to hell!"

Franmalth ignored the threat, handed the regeneration work to a Lamy, and turned away.

This needed to be reported.

More than half a day later, rescue operations at the Council ruins were mostly complete.

In addition to Rhodes and Makarov, Pergrande Kingdom garrison forces had joined the effort.

With people came rumors.

News of the Council’s destruction spread rapidly; special editions of major newspapers were already being printed.

Rhodes took a moment to call Mira, warning her to keep everyone on high alert.

Warren’s communicator proved its worth.

Now, with immediate emergencies handled, Rhodes and Makarov sat in discussion with Org, Lahar, and Mest.

"I can’t understand their motive," Org said, frowning. "Why attack the Council directly?"

Mest asked, "Retaliation for our investigation?"

Lahar shook his head. "We’ve always investigated Tartaros."

He hesitated, glancing at Org.

Rhodes spoke first.

"The Council Members were in a meeting when the attack happened, correct? What was being discussed?"

Org sighed.

"There’s no point hiding it now."

"We were discussing Tartaros."

"Based on their movements, the timing of Dark Guild purges, their operational patterns, we attempted to calculate their current location."

"Though not fully confirmed, we identified several high-probability regions."

"Our plan was to scout them one by one."

"And once confirmed..."

Org paused.

"...to activate Magic Cannon."

Silence.

Even Makarov’s expression shifted.

Lahar and Mest stiffened.

Magic Cannon, the ultimate weapon.

Rhodes, however, felt an unexpected sense of relief.

’So they were finally willing to use it properly.’

Org shook his head.

"But now, even if we wanted to, we can’t."

Lahar blurted, "Why not?"

...

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