Aquarius's shoulders loosened slightly, but the air around her still crackled with restrained fury. The crew members behind her exchanged uneasy glances, as if unsure whether to trust Kabe or run from him. Even so, Aquarius simply folded her arms, watching the young mage sprint toward the ship with unblinking focus. For a brief moment, a flicker of curiosity crossed her eyes—just what kind of kid could move with that confidence?
But Bart's heart was filled with sheer terror.
What is with that brat? What kind of speed and monstrous strength is that?
He took Wright out in an instant!
No one knew better than Bart exactly how strong his little brother was. Those so-called mages from the big guilds, it was not like they had never killed any before. But never... never had there been a mage who made him feel this cornered, this helpless.
He knew very well he was not a match either. So now, Bart's mind was already frantically searching for a way out.
"W-wait, wait a second, Kabe, I think there must be some kind of misunderstanding between us."
As he spoke, Bart slapped himself twice across the face.
"I admit it, I lost my head for money, I let the price that Babitt offered cloud my judgment. Please, I beg you, have mercy. Considering I haven't done anything truly irreversible yet, spare my life. I swear, from today on I will never work as a mage again. I will go back home and be a quiet farmer for the rest of my life."
Kabe impatiently dug a finger in his ear.
"What are you babbling about? At a time like this, you think saying a few crappy lines will make me let you go?"
Bart choked, completely forgetting what he had planned to say next.
Kabe was straightforward. He raised three fingers and coldly delivered his ultimatum.
"I am going to count to three. If you still don't crawl over here, kneel down and surrender, then I will make my move."
"Wait, Lord Kabe, my brother and I still have elderly parents to take care of..."
"One."
"Lord, this is really my last time, I even planned to go back and get married..."
"Two."
"Damn it, I fuc..."
Kabe did not give him the slightest chance to bargain, which almost made Bart curse out loud in frustration.
Is this brat's heart made of stone? Forget that he is this young. Even many adults, faced with such desperate begging and groveling, would at least hesitate for a moment out of pity.
But Kabe was completely unmoved, determined to send these two brothers to their deaths.
So cruelty rose in Bart's heart as well. Rather than being killed by this brat or dragged before the Magic Council, he might as well go all out in a desperate struggle. There might still be a sliver of hope.
With that thought, he stretched out his arms, fingers hooking together as he aimed at Kabe.
"You forced me. Even if I die, I won't let you have your way!
Water Magic: Furious Sea..."
"Dark Raging Surge!"
Before Bart could finish shouting the name of his spell, a young but furious voice roared from behind him.
A familiar chill rushed up from the depths of Bart's heart.
This time he did not even get the chance to turn around. Several pitch-black beams of energy, thick with a dark aura, slammed solidly into his back.
"Argh!!!"
With a miserable scream, Bart was blasted straight toward the shore. He skidded across the ground and only stopped when a foot stepped down on his head.
Bart slowly raised his blood-soaked face and looked up at the owner of that foot, Kabe. He forced out an ugly smile.
"Uh... can we pretend... nothing happened?"
Kabe:
Aquarius:
"What do you think?" Kabe almost laughed from sheer anger.
He pressed Bart's head harder into the ground, then looked up and shouted to the one who had just delivered that "finishing blow" for him.
"Mira, nice work. Now go and drag Babitt over here too."
Out in the sea, Mira, who was still in her partial Take Over form, heard his order. She made a fierce little punching gesture at him, then turned and swam back toward the merchant ship.
"Tch, kids these days are really hard to handle."
Kabe sighed to Aquarius beside him, who nodded in deep agreement.
"Now then, it is your turn to clear things up for me.
Talk, Brother Bart. What is the true purpose of this little operation of yours? And what possessed you to stupidly issue a request to a legal guild?"
The knife is on the chopping block and he is the fish, Bart was in no position to keep his mouth shut.
Very soon, he confessed everything from beginning to end, the whole truth laid bare.
The cause of this incident was even more twisted than Kabe had imagined.
Ever since the two brothers killed a client on a job out of greed and stole most of the man's assets, they had been put on the Magic Council's wanted list.
To avoid the Council's pursuit, the brothers had no choice but to join a dark guild. For that, their guild master had extorted most of their ill-gotten gains right out of their hands.
Just when the two of them were eating themselves up with regret over everything that had happened, the guild master who had taken their money brought them a piece of "good news."
To put it simply, there was a big shot in the underworld who was currently gathering rare Celestial Spirit Keys all over the world.
If they could bring back one or two keys, they would be able to earn this terrifying figure's favor.
And as it happened, Babitt, with whom they had cooperated several times before, sent word asking them to help him capture a Celestial Spirit.
So the brothers had a sudden stroke of "inspiration" and came up with this plan.
As for why they still needed to involve a legal guild in the middle of all this...
Naturally, it was because neither the brothers nor Babitt wanted to bear the brunt of the Heartfilia family's revenge alone.
They planned to pick a couple of small legal guilds as disposable scapegoats, trick their mages here, then kill them at the scene of the incident and drag the Heartfilia family down with them.
Their plan was already very thorough. Anyone who would be lured by a reward of one million J would be at just the right level.
Not strong enough to crush the trap outright, but not so weak that the Heartfilia family would instantly see through the ruse.
Basically, what they expected were mages around Karen's level.
With the strength of the two brothers, plus the advantage of fighting out at sea where water mages excel, if that freak Kabe had not appeared halfway through...
Who knew, their heavy gamble might really have succeeded.
Unfortunately, there is no "if" in this world.
After hearing Bart's confession, Kabe's attention was immediately drawn to one crucial detail.
"A big shot in the underworld? Have you ever seen him, or at least heard his name?"
"N-no. It is just that whenever our guild master mentions him, he cannot help trembling with fear."
"I see."
Kabe stroked his chin and dug through his memories.
Although it was not exactly useful information, he really did know of one villain who had a slight connection to Celestial Spirits.
In the future there would be the Balam Alliance, three major dark guilds joined together, and one of them would be the Oración Seis, led by a man who...
With his own two hands, would orchestrate the vast majority of tragedies in the Fairy Tail world.
The main boss Brain... or rather, Guild Master Zero.
Among his subordinates there was a female Celestial Spirit mage with the codename "Angel."
Considering Angel's age at this point in time, Kabe had reason to suspect that Brain was currently collecting Celestial Spirit Keys to arm his subordinates.
Damn it, this stupid mission went in circles and spirals, and in the end it turns out to be linked to the Oración Seis.
Even Kabe could not help complaining about how absurd this whole job had become.
Bart, meanwhile, cautiously watched his expression, then forced a fawning smile and said,
"Lord, since I have confessed everything... do you think that maybe..."
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