All of Jovian's jobs were subjugation jobs. His targets were simple, the unofficial magic guilds known as Dark Guilds.
Dark Guilds were the collective name for guild organizations that represented the dark side of magic.
Because they often carried out illegal requests, or acted in cruel and inhuman ways, they were not recognized by the Magic Council.
Hidden within these guilds were many evil experts who wielded strange and powerful magic. Among them, the Balam Alliance, formed by the three Dark Guilds Oración Seis, Grimoire Heart, and Tartaros, was the greatest force controlling the dark world.
Each of the three guilds also had many direct subordinate guilds beneath them, but the three were not truly allies. Instead, they had signed a non-aggression pact, and normally did not interfere with each other's actions.
What Jovian had set his eyes on were the small guilds under these three great guilds. Of course, that was not because Jovian lacked the strength to destroy the three great Dark Guilds, but because their locations were uncertain, and Jovian was too lazy to search for them. His targets were all Dark Guilds whose locations had already been confirmed, guilds that could definitely be found as long as he followed the route marked on the map.
The Dark Guild Lost Pupil…
It existed within an uninhabited forest. All of its members were desperate criminals who would do anything for money. Among them were assassins, thieves, and bandits.
"Hahaha! A few days ago, I took down a few more mages from a legal guild!"
"I have to say, legal guild mages really are weak."
"A bunch of useless trash. They're not worth taking seriously at all."
Inside the guild, a burly man sat at the central seat, holding a beer and drinking in large gulps.
"You're really ruthless, Muir. Aren't you afraid mages from the major guilds will put a bounty on you?"
Surrounding the burly man Muir were a group of sleazy Dark Mages who could not show their faces in the light. They had all heard of this man's achievements. Supposedly, he had once single-handedly killed an entire squad of legal guild mages. His strength was extremely powerful.
"Glug, glug, glug…"
Muir drank his beer in large gulps, completely ignoring the mage beside him. Only after he had drunk enough did he slap the table hard and speak disdainfully.
"Put a bounty on me? If they've got the ability, let them come!"
"Hmph. In any case, we Dark Guild members are already on the wanted list."
"The only difference is how big the bounty is."
"Do I care?"
"Besides, even if someone really comes, so what? If I see one, I'll kill one. If I see two, I'll kill two."
Muir spoke disdainfully, as if he did not take being wanted seriously at all.
"As expected of Muir. So domineering!"
After hearing him, the surrounding mages all began praising Muir's behavior.
"Ring, ring, ring…"
Just as their voices had barely fallen, the bell at their door suddenly rang. The next second, a man wearing a black cloak walked into the hall.
"Who are you?"
Everyone froze as they looked at the man in black who had walked into their guild.
"Is Shadow Hand Muir here?"
The man in black ignored the thugs gathering around him. He took a bounty poster from his coat and began comparing it one by one, as if searching for the person on the wanted notice.
"Boss Muir, this guy seems to be looking for you!"
At the central table, after hearing the man in black's words, someone spoke to Muir.
"Your grandpa Muir is right here. What about it? You want a fight? Or are you a legal guild's dog?"
Muir put down his mug and roared angrily at the man in black.
"Sizzle, sizzle…"
The instant Muir's words fell, a crimson flash tore straight through the air and cut off Muir's entire head.
After doing all of this, the man in black walked over to the burly man who had called himself Muir under the stunned gazes of countless mages. He straightened Muir's head, then took out a bounty poster from his coat and placed Muir's head beside the poster to compare them. A few seconds later, the man in black nodded and said, "Looks like it's him."
After that, the man in black placed Muir's head into the case he carried with him, then turned and walked toward the door.
"Muir? Boss Muir?"
"You bastard, look at what you did!"
Just as the man in black was preparing to leave, several mages who had been drinking with Muir earlier surrounded him and questioned him furiously.
At the same time, ice, fire, and many other elements began gathering around them.
"Boom!"
The man in black glanced at them. He remained silent. His figure moved as fast as lightning, and in a single exchange, he directly cut off the head of the person closest to him. Blood instantly sprayed from the neck of that Headless Horseman.
The man in black showed no intention of stopping. The instant blood flew into the air, his figure flashed rapidly and instantly arrived in front of two other mages. His hands stabbed straight out, and with a thud, they directly pierced through the hearts of those two mages. Amid the spraying blood, two more mages collapsed in front of the man in black.
"Monster… monster…"
The final mage held a tool he had bought from a magic shop and looked at the man before him, who killed enemies without mercy. His body could not stop trembling.
After dealing with the others, the man in black picked up the box containing Muir's head from the ground, then handed the box in his hand to the Dark Mage in front of him.
"Hm?"
The mage did not understand what the man in black meant, and subconsciously took the box.
After freeing both hands, the man in black first used the mage's clothes to wipe the blood from his hands. After wiping his hands clean, he lightly brushed the dust from his body. Once he had done all this, the man in black took the box containing Muir's head back from the mage's hands, then his eyes lit up with a scarlet glow.
"Sizzle, sizzle…"
Along with a dazzling burst of red light, Muir's subordinate instantly fell to the ground.
After finishing all of this, the man in black held the case and swaggered toward the exit of the Dark Guild.
"Hey! Aren't you being a little too arrogant?"
Just as the man in black was about to leave, a voice rang out from the innermost part of the guild.
"Hm?"
The man in black, who had been about to leave, stopped and turned his head to look back.
Faintly, everyone seemed to hear the man in black sigh. The next second, scorching red light illuminated the entire night sky.
"Sizzle, sizzle…"
Endless heat directly burned the entire Dark Guild away, and countless mages were cut in half.
"That wasted a little time."
"I still have to do the next job."
When raging flames rose from the Dark Mage guild in the empty clearing at the center of the forest, and smoke could be seen rising into the sky from hundreds of meters away, the man in black spoke for the first time. He looked at the watch on his wrist, watching the seconds tick by one after another, and frowned for the first time.
"Boom!"
The next second, accompanied by the sound of tearing air, the man flew into the sky with Muir's head.
"The Black Reaper! It's the Black Reaper…"
After the man in black flew into the sky, several mages who had escaped from the burning guild finally shouted in terror.
"Rumor says there's a mage like that. He kills without blinking, but specifically targets mages from Dark Guilds. His methods are brutal. As long as the bounty poster says the target can be killed, he will absolutely never let them leave alive. According to the rumor, that person always wears jet-black clothes, and he is also a mage of the Fairy Tail guild. That's why people call him the Dark Mage Killer, the Black Reaper. I thought it was only a legend, but I never expected it to be real. Looks like I have to report this to the higher-ups…"
A black shadow in the forest muttered quietly.
"As expected of Lord Black Reaper. You completed our subjugation request so easily."
In a nearby town, Jovian, dressed entirely in black, sat inside an office and patiently waited for the bounty to be delivered. As for the flattery from the people in front of him, Jovian ignored it all.
"Cut the nonsense. Just give me the money."
Jovian's words were extremely cold.
"Ahahaha, of course…"
The employer did not dare offend Jovian. He had also heard Jovian's rumors. In this past year, this man had achieved a one-hundred-percent completion rate on subjugation requests, a monster among monsters. It was said that whenever he carried out a subjugation request, no matter who it was, as long as they dared to stand in his way, they would be torn apart.
"This is your money. Please count it."
The employer wiped the sweat from his forehead as he placed the money in front of Jovian.
"Mm…"
Only after seeing the money in front of him did Jovian's expression improve slightly. He nodded lightly, then took the money and left directly.
"So that's the legendary Black Reaper? His eyes looked like he was going to kill someone. He's basically a monster!"
After Jovian took the money and left, the employer looked in the direction Jovian had gone, constantly wiping the sweat from his forehead with a tissue.
"It's time to return to the guild."
Jovian looked at the time. He knew he had been away from the guild for quite some time. Now it was time to go back.
"Boom!"
Thinking of this, Jovian transformed into a streak of light and flew toward Fairy Tail.
"Tap…"
When Jovian returned to the guild, the atmosphere inside seemed very oppressive.
"I heard a lot of rumors about you all on my way back."
"Even if the master forgives you, I will not forgive you!"
"Cana, is this how you usually drink?"
"Vijeeter, if you want to dance, go dance somewhere more open outside."
"Wakaba, how many more cigars are you planning to smoke?"
When Jovian walked into the guild, he happened to see a red-haired girl in armor continuously lecturing everyone inside the guild.
"Get me a beer."
Jovian ignored the armored girl and walked straight to an empty seat nearby. He sat down and waved at Mirajane.
"You really are something. When you don't leave, you never leave, but once you do, you stay away for ages."
After hearing him, Mirajane walked over to Jovian with a smile and spoke warmly.
"Yeah. I was away for a little too long. Because I kept taking more and more bounty jobs, the work kept piling up, and in the end, I just couldn't come back."
Jovian was first taken aback by Mirajane's scolding tone, then nodded. He had not expected that before he had fully linked his signal with this body, he would actually have someone he knew in this guild.
Seemingly because of the conversation between Jovian and Mirajane, Erza, who had been constantly criticizing everyone, paused and turned her gaze toward Jovian and Mirajane.
However, Jovian directly ignored that gaze and continued drinking his beer.
"Who is that guy? He actually dares to act that arrogant when Erza is back?"
Natsu looked at Jovian and asked in confusion.
"Never seen him before…"
Happy also found it strange. He did not remember this person's scent.
"That's Jovian."
After hearing them, Mirajane smiled and answered.
"Jovian? Which Jovian?"
Gray asked in confusion. In his impression, there was only one person named Jovian in the entire guild, the one who always held a cleaning rag and worked on the guild's logistics together with Mirajane.
Supposedly, ever since that person came to the guild, he had not left the guild in twenty years. He was an extremely strange weirdo.
"Of course, the Jovian who's always helped everyone clean."
Mirajane smiled and spoke to everyone.
"Huh?!"
After hearing that, the mages all opened their mouths wide in shock.
"Too noisy. If you don't want to die, shut the hell up."
Seemingly growing impatient from everyone's noise, Jovian frowned and snapped angrily at the people around him.
"This change is way too fast. It's unbelievable…"
Gray widened his eyes as he remembered the Jovian in his memory, the one who always held a mop and smiled foolishly, and compared him to the cold Jovian in front of him. He felt as though the heavens had played some kind of joke on him.
"What's wrong? Why is everyone so surprised?"
The newcomer Lucy looked at the shocked crowd in confusion.
"Lucy, the man you see sitting there drinking is named Jovian. He was originally in charge of the guild's logistics, and his main job was cleaning the toilets. Saying it like this might not help you understand, so I'll show you something. This is our group photo. The person standing in the middle, beside the master and Mirajane, holding a mop, is him."
Happy sighed helplessly, then took a picture out of his pocket. In the photo, standing beside Mirajane, was a man holding a mop and smiling foolishly.
"Huh?"
Lucy's expression was now exactly the same as everyone else's in the guild. She could not imagine that the man holding a mop and smiling foolishly was the same person as the handsome guy she had just seen.
"Jovian, I heard plenty of terrifying rumors about you outside. I heard you eliminated quite a few Dark Guild members, and people even call you the Dark Guild Killer, the Black Reaper?"
The beautiful girl in armor walked up to Jovian and asked.
"The Black Reaper is Jovian?"
"That's impossible…"
"Hahaha, what kind of joke is that?"
After hearing what the beautiful girl said, everyone burst out laughing. They clearly did not believe what the red-haired armored girl, Erza, had said.
"I received permission from the Magic Council. Everyone I killed was someone who deserved to die. Is there anything wrong with that?"
Who would have thought that just as everyone refused to believe Jovian was the Dark Guild Killer, Jovian slowly opened his mouth and directly admitted his identity?
"What…"
"It really was him?"
"My God! Is this still the same good-natured guy from the guild?"
The mages of the Fairy Tail guild opened their mouths wide. They could not believe what they had just heard.
// I hope you enjoyed this massive release :)
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