The streets of Magnolia were filled with the faint scent of flowers and the sll of freshly baked bread.
The afterglow of the setting sun cast long shadows of the five people and one cat.
Natsu had his hands behind his head, wearing his signature cheerful smile; Happy flapped his wings, circling above their heads.
Gray walked with his hands in his pockets, looking cool; Ron walked lazily in the middle of the group, covering his mouth to stifle a yawn.
Lucy held Plue in her arms, her face flushed with a hint of fatigue yet satisfaction; Erza walked at the back, dragging a mountain of luggage, watching the others ahead with a smile.
"Wahahaha, we're back, we're back! This mission was a piece of cake!"
"Aye! It really was easy!"
"That's right, it was effortless."
Natsu, Happy, and Gray chattered back and forth, looking completely carried away.
"Hey, hey, if it weren't for you guys ssing around." Ron sighed, rubbing his forehead in resignation, "We could have been back much sooner."
Upon hearing this, Natsu imdiately stopped in his tracks, turned around, and retorted, "What's that supposed to an, Ron? That's too harsh! We helped out quite a bit, didn't we!"
"Exactly, exactly!" Happy imdiately chid in to support Natsu, "We helped too!"
Ron curled his lip at the duo of Natsu and Happy, who were singing each other's praises.
"Yeah, yeah, right. You 'helped' alright—you just made everything worse..."
Seeing them laughing and joking, Lucy felt a bit embarrassed.
"Um... originally, this mission was one I accepted, and I should have completed it by myself."
She lowered her head, unable to see her own feet, and said in a small voice, "I'm really sorry for causing everyone trouble."
Natsu looked at Lucy, looking confused. "Lucy, what are you talking about? Aren't we the strongest team? Isn't it only natural for us to do missions together?"
"Aye! Natsu is right!!!"
Gray nodded. "That's exactly how it is."
"Although I'm a bit tired..." Ron stretched lazily, putting on a show, "But since we're a team, it doesn't really matter."
"Ron, you lazy guy."
Erza shot a glance at him, the corner of her mouth curling into a teasing smile. "However, it's quite nice to see you moving around. It seems the team's cohesion has beco even stronger."
These words left Lucy stunned, her pupils trembling slightly as a warm feeling welled up in her heart.
"Yeah, we are a team. Thank you, everyone!"
They continued walking forward, their laughter echoing through the street.
However, the expressions of the townspeople on the street were sowhat strange. As they watched Ron and the others, they whispered to each other, their eyes filled with pity and worry.
"Hey, look, those are the Wizards from Fairy Tail, right?"
"Yeah, looking at them, it seems they don't know yet. How pitiful..."
"Shh, keep it down..."
Facing the stares and whispers, Gray frowned. "We're being looked at strangely, we..."
Happy nodded and landed on Natsu's shoulder. "What an unpleasant feeling."
"Natsu, everyone's eyes are so strange."
Lucy shrunk back, tugging quietly on Natsu's scarf. "Could sothing have happened?"
As they talked, they suddenly stopped in their tracks.
From here, they could vaguely see the guild, the familiar silhouette of the building coming into view.
"What's going on? The guild looks... a bit strange."
Ron's eyes sharpened, his brows furrowing tightly, as he thought to himself:
In the original plot, the battle between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord seems to be during this period after the Galuna Island incident.
Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord are both guilds with long histories and are the two most famous Wizard guilds in the Kingdom of Fiore, but the relationship between them has always been bad.
Phantom Lord is mainly located in Magnolia Town in the northeastern part of the Kingdom of Fiore. Its predecessor was Blue Skull, a guild from a hundred years ago. The original guild master of Blue Skull beca enemies with Mavis and her group because of the Tenrou Jade and was eventually destroyed by Mavis using the incomplete super magic 'Law'.
So, after Fairy Tail was established, the guild master of Blue Skull founded Phantom Lord with the goal of rivaling Fairy Tail.
The two have been opposed to each other since a hundred years ago, and this opposition intensified again at the guild master eting six years ago.
After Makarov and the Phantom Lord guild master Jose got drunk, they started a fight over whose guild was the strongest and greatest. In the end, Makarov, who was a veteran Ten Wizard Saints mber, won, and Jose never appeared at the guild master etings again.
Since then, Phantom Lord has been intentionally or unintentionally causing trouble for Fairy Tail.
Later, Jose even used the opportunity of the request from Lucy's father to brazenly launch an attack on Fairy Tail.
The discovery on the street made them involuntarily quicken their pace.
When they rushed back to the guild, they finally saw the true situation.
The guild, which was usually filled with laughter, had now beco dilapidated and ruined.
Under the setting sun, the iron pillars stuck into the guild were like hideous claws stabbing into the sky, as if silently mocking them.
"This is... how could this happen..."
"What's going on? Did soone attack the guild?"
"Our... our guild!"
The most hot-headed Natsu let out a "Boom!" as raging flas instantly surged around his body. "Bastard! Whoever it is, I'll make them pay!!!"
"Natsu, calm down first."
Erza held down the jumping Natsu. Although she was also very angry, she remained relatively rational.
"At least let's figure out what exactly happened, and where the people from the guild are now..."
"You're back!"
Mirajane, who noticed Ron and the others had returned, ca out to et them.
"Mira, what exactly is going on here?" Erza asked, stepping forward.
"It's Phantom Lord..."
Mirajane led the group to the basent floor while explaining the specific situation.
"Although it's frustrating, we were indeed played."
User Comments
0 comments from readers