Chapter 230
"..."
Marshall’s expression became rather strange as he carefully looked over the enemies in front of him.
He had assumed they would need to spend some time tracking down Oración Seis and locating their base.
Instead, the entire guild had conveniently delivered itself right to their doorstep.
As for the ring of Dark Guild small fry surrounding the villa, Marshall barely bothered counting them. They were all cannon fodder, without a single person worth taking seriously.
His attention remained on the six actual threats.
The weakest was the man with the ridiculous rooster-like hairstyle, Sawyer, codename Racer, whose Magic Power sat a little above 20,000.
Next came Sorano, codename Angel, who was currently lying restrained at Marshall’s feet.
𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎
She had a little over 30,000 Magic Power, slightly more than Ichiya, though as a Celestial Spirit Mage her actual combat ability couldn’t be judged from raw reserves alone.
Then there was Wally’s older brother, Hoteye, with roughly 40,000 Magic Power.
He specialized in Earth Magic and possessed an unusual set of eyes capable of seeing through objects and terrain.
Cobra, real name Erik, had a little over 40,000 as well.
He was also a rare Dragon Slayer.
Marshall’s attention lingered on him for a moment.
’Hm?’
’This guy is... listening to my thoughts?’
Interesting.
This was Marshall’s first time encountering another Mage whose abilities were similarly focused on gathering information.
Unfortunately for Cobra, his mastery of that kind of ability was still below Marshall’s own Information Magic.
Cobra realized the same thing almost immediately.
His face changed.
"Leader, I can’t hear the pink-haired brat’s voice."
Then Brain spoke—and what he said instantly darkened Marshall’s expression.
"Marshall of Fairy Tail, the scholar who once attended the Magic Academy."
Brain smiled coldly.
"He ranked first in his class for three consecutive years and was officially evaluated by the academy as the most gifted Mage of the modern era."
His smile widened.
"They even claimed his natural talent rivaled that of Zeref, the strongest Black Wizard of history."
Brain glanced toward Cobra.
"That brat’s strength is far beyond yours."
"I see."
Cobra’s expression became more serious.
"No wonder Angel was defeated instantly. Good thing we came prepared."
Several gazes immediately snapped toward Marshall.
Two were particularly intense.
Gray looked completely bewildered.
’When the hell did Marshall secretly go to school?’
He had never heard anything about that!
The other person was Hibiki.
His face had gone completely rigid, as though his entire understanding of reality had shattered.
’Marshall?’
’Hannah Marshall?!’
’That was my genius junior from the academy!’
’No wonder he looked so familiar!’
Then an even worse memory surfaced.
’WAITTTTTTTTTT... I WROTE HIM A LOVE LETTER!’
’I’m so cooked!!!’
The others, who knew neither Marshall’s school history nor much about the Magic Academy, had little reaction.
Only little Tia gave Marshall an openly amused look.
"..."
Marshall’s face had gone black.
His buried history had just been exposed in front of everyone.
If Brain hadn’t actually been somewhat dangerous, Marshall would already have beaten him into the ground for that alone.
There were still two members of Oración Seis left to evaluate.
Macbeth, codename Midnight, possessed more than 80,000 Magic Power, already approaching the threshold of the Ten Wizard Saints.
And finally... there was Brain himself.
Brain was the main reason Marshall hadn’t simply attacked the moment the enemy appeared.
From Marshall’s perspective, the man’s Magic Power was profoundly strange.
It was split into two completely distinct portions.
Normally, even after someone awakened their Second Origin, the Magic Power contained in their First and Second Origins remained interconnected.
The two reserves functioned as one continuous whole.
Brain was different.
The upper portion of his body, around the location of his First Origin, contained nearly 200,000 Magic Power.
But the lower portion, corresponding to his Second Origin, held more than 500,000.
Combined, that placed Brain in the same general league as Makarov.
Marshall genuinely wasn’t sure he could defeat someone with reserves that enormous.
Fortunately...he had already prepared for that possibility.
"Oración Seis."
Marshall looked toward Brain.
"What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Are you formally declaring war on the Legal Guilds?"
Their enemies had clearly known about the alliance beforehand and had prepared this ambush specifically to wipe out the combined forces of the Legal Guilds.
This went far beyond ordinary provocation.
Oración Seis plainly had no respect whatsoever for the established guilds.
Brain grinned.
"Relax. I have no intention of killing you."
He spread his arms.
"I still need all of you for a trade with the Magic Council."
His smile became cruel.
"So consider yourselves fortunate. You’ll become hostages instead of piles of mangled flesh."
Marshall’s ear twitched.
Then his expression became peculiar.
"Hostages?"
He looked directly at Brain.
"You’re planning to trade us for Jellal?"
Cobra’s face changed immediately.
"Leader! Be careful! He can read thoughts too!"
"It doesn’t matter."
Brain remained completely unconcerned.
"What difference does it make if he knows?"
He looked at Marshall dismissively.
"They’re already trapped."
Then his expression turned cold.
"Brat, surely even you can see that you have no chance of winning. If you don’t want to suffer unnecessarily, surrender peacefully."
The people on Marshall’s side became visibly tense.
On the surface, their strongest combatant was Jura, yet even his presence didn’t seem sufficient to overwhelm Brain’s.
And with the sheer number of Dark Guild Mages surrounding them, this clearly wouldn’t be an easy battle.
"You arrogant criminal!"
Jura stepped forward.
"We came here precisely to stop your scheme!"
The ground surged beneath his feet.
"Prepare yourself!"
Massive walls of stone rose from the earth and closed in around Brain.
The difference between an ordinary S-Class Mage and a Wizard Saint immediately became obvious.
The sheer force behind Jura’s attack was overwhelming.
"Liquid Ground!"
Hoteye responded at once.
His Earth Magic seemed particularly well suited to interfering with Jura’s Earth-based molding techniques.
Unfortunately for him, elemental compatibility meant very little in the face of an overwhelming difference in Magic Power.
Jura thrust his palm forward.
A tremendous torrent of magical force swept across the battlefield and engulfed Oración Seis, blasting five of its members backward at once.
Gray’s mouth fell open.
"That old guy... is ridiculously strong."
Marshall, however, noticed something else.
Something was wrong.
Brain seemed to be...using only the Magic Power stored in his First Origin.
What kind of insane arrangement was that?
Was the man deliberately sealing away his own strength?
Brain wielded the same general branch of Dark Magic once used by Phantom Lord’s Master Jose.
He managed to shield several of his subordinates from the worst of Jura’s attack, but his expression had become noticeably ugly.
Yet he wasn’t looking at Jura.
He was staring at Marshall, who had suddenly risen into the air.
A very bad feeling entered Brain’s mind.
"Marshall!"
His voice sharpened.
"What are you doing?!"
"This entire area..."
Marshall crossed his hands into an entirely unnecessary hand sign and smiled maliciously.
"...is already under my control."
Then he spoke with theatrical solemnity.
"Domain Expansion."
An enormous, extraordinarily intricate magic array emerged from Marshall’s body.
In the next instant, it expanded explosively outward until its light seemed to cover the entire sky.
Brain had once served as the director of the Bureau of Magical Development and possessed knowledge of hundreds of different spells.
One glance was enough for him to understand exactly what the array did.
His face changed dramatically.
"Impossible!"
He stared upward in disbelief.
"How could you possibly complete a teleportation array this complicated in an instant?! That’s impossible!"
"A teleportation array?!"
The members of Oración Seis and the surrounding Dark Guild Mages all felt their hearts sink.
Something was terribly wrong.
Brain realized it first.
"RETREAT!"
His voice thundered across the battlefield.
"WE’VE BEEN TRICKED!!!"
But it was already too late.
The instant Marshall unfolded the teleportation array that he had painstakingly constructed inside his Second Origin space beforehand, Oración Seis had already lost.
Light began flashing across the enormous formation.
One after another, Fairy Tail Mages who had been waiting impatiently for their chance to fight came dropping out of the teleportation array.
It was raining Fairy Tail members.
Then an enormous ball of fire came crashing down from above and slammed directly into Oración Seis’s retreat route.
Natsu’s excited roar followed immediately.
"WHERE ARE THOSE BASTARDS FROM ORACIÓN SEIS?!"
"I’M ALL FIRED UP!!!"
Amid the chaos, Marshall’s amused voice reached the enemy.
"Sorry..."
He smiled down at Brain.
"But aren’t you the ones who are surrounded?"