"Lord Emperor Zero…"
Emperor Zero's three little followers stared as Lyon, Gray's dumbass senior, was one-shot by Jovian's punch. They all shouted in shock.
"You bastard! How dare you hit Lord Emperor Zero! I'll make you…"
One of them, a very short Mage with strange, thick eyebrows, looked at the unconscious Emperor Zero, frowned, and roared furiously.
"Huh?"
"Keep it down…"
"You're a little noisy…"
Before the short man could waste any more words, Jovian's figure disappeared again. In the blink of an eye, he appeared in front of the short man and punched him in the stomach.
"Gah…"
As stomach acid surged out of his mouth, the short man dropped to his knees and started convulsing.
"And you…"
Jovian immediately followed up by one-shotting the doglike Mage beside him, and tomato sauce splattered all over the ground.
"What?"
The only woman among Emperor Zero's three subordinates watched Jovian instantly take out Emperor Zero and her two companions. Her expression changed, and she shouted, "Unforgivable!"
Then the woman pulled out her magic tool from her clothes, a special item that could control a human body.
Bzzzz…
The instant the woman pulled out the magic tool, a scarlet beam directly shattered it in her hand into two halves.
"If I were you, I'd behave."
As Jovian spoke, he arrived beside the woman. Then he lightly chopped the back of her neck and directly knocked her unconscious.
After doing all of this, Jovian looked toward the mysterious priest.
"Uh…"
"I truly had eyes but failed to recognize someone of your strength. I was blind…"
The priest looked at Jovian, dropped to his knees, and kept kowtowing while begging for mercy.
"Stop playing dumb."
"You've already been exposed."
Jovian looked at the kowtowing priest and spoke coldly.
"Oh my, I really can't hide anything from you."
"But this lady is a little curious. How exactly did we provoke you?"
"There are no Dark Guild Mages here."
After hearing Jovian's words, the priest no longer continued pretending. He stood up, transformed, and became a beautiful woman in a kimono.
"You were exposed from the start."
"As for why I came here, that starts with my companion…"
Jovian briefly explained how Natsu had secretly taken an S-Class job, and how the guild master had sent him to capture Natsu.
"That's ridiculous…"
A trace of absurdity appeared on the woman's delicate face. She could not understand it. So everything had happened because they were unlucky? Because some idiot kid secretly took an S-Class job, everything they had spent so long preparing had failed at the last step?
"In any case, I've already seen what you've been doing, Councilor Ultear…"
Jovian's cold voice rang in the woman's ears. Yes, the woman's name was Ultear, and she was a member of the Magic Council.
But none of that was her true identity. The woman's real identity was an officer of Grimoire Heart, and a high-ranking one at that.
She was the leader of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, second only to the guild master and deputy master of Grimoire Heart. At the same time, she was Gray's and his dumbass senior's fellow disciple, as well as the biological daughter of their master, Ur.
"I still need that identity, you know."
"Unfortunately, there are many things I still haven't finished doing. So what do you need me to help you with so you won't expose my identity?"
Ultear brushed back her black hair. In that moment, she was radiating charm.
"I do need you to help me with something." Jovian walked in front of Ultear and smiled. "After all, you wouldn't want the things you've done, or your relationship with a Dark Guild, to spread everywhere, would you?"
"You know?"
Ultear's expression changed. Although her actions had been exposed, she was not worried about what Jovian could do to her. Even if he exposed her, she believed not many people would believe it. But her relationship with Grimoire Heart was different. That meant Jovian had already investigated her thoroughly, which was why he could say something like that.
In that case, it was very hard for her to guarantee that Jovian did not already have evidence in his hands.
"What exactly do you want me to do?"
Ultear looked at Jovian and asked.
"I need you to give me information on Grimoire Heart. I want to have a proper talk with our second master."
Jovian told Ultear his plan.
"Don't worry. As long as you help introduce me to the second master, I'll guarantee your safety. I'll even guarantee that you can leave Grimoire Heart alive, and I'll allow you to take whoever you want with you."
Jovian made his promise to Ultear.
"Heh…"
"How am I supposed to believe your promise?"
After hearing Jovian's words, Ultear gave a cold laugh. She still did not fully believe Jovian's words, especially his promise to help her leave Grimoire Heart. That was far too difficult.
She understood better than anyone in the world just how powerful their guild master, Fairy Tail's second guild master, truly was. That strength had nearly surpassed the entire continent and reached a completely new level. With her own strength, comparable to Ur's and enough to rank near the lower end of the Ten Wizard Saints, she would still feel utterly helpless before their master.
"Looks like you don't believe me."
"Doesn't matter. You don't have the strength to resist me anyway."
"Just keep carrying out your plan as usual. I'll be watching you."
"Once you finish everything, I'll go with you to meet your guild master. That's settled."
"Before then, I won't interfere with your mission. Relax."
After Jovian finished speaking, his eyes flashed red, destroying every device in the area. Finally, he stood in front of Deliora.
"This ice is your mother, right? You really don't care?"
Jovian stood before the layer of ice, looked at the cold ice in front of him, and asked Ultear.
"I don't care."
Ultear shook her head. Her feelings toward her mother seemed extremely complicated. She wanted to receive a mother's love, but she had never received it. On top of the misunderstanding from her childhood, aside from love, she also carried endless hatred toward her mother.
"I hope you won't regret it."
Bzzzz…
After casually responding to Ultear, Jovian's eyes flashed with red light. In an instant, he sliced the massive block of ice in front of him into two halves, along with the demon inside it, Deliora, whose life force had already been completely washed clean.
"So strong…"
Ultear had to admit that Jovian's strength truly gave him the right to be arrogant. Those red beams capable of destroying everything were enough to give anyone a headache. If it was Jovian, perhaps he really could defeat the guild master.
That was what Ultear thought to herself.
"In that case, we'll part ways here."
"Remember, I'll come find you."
After Jovian finished speaking, he flew out of the enormous ruins. As Jovian left, the entire massive ruin began to collapse.
"…"
Ultear stared at Jovian as he left and could not speak for a long time. It seemed as though an internal struggle was raging inside her. She was thinking about what she should do, and whether she should try believing in someone.
A few hours later…
"Where am I…"
When Natsu opened his eyes, he realized that he was no longer on the island. Instead, he was back on a sickbed in the guild.
Although he still remembered the island in his mind, the current situation made it feel more like a dream. Though after waking up, he did not feel moved at all.
"What's going on…"
Lucy also woke up at that moment. Their confused gazes swept around the room.
"Yo. You're finally awake…"
Just as Lucy and Natsu were confused, Guild Master Makarov walked in with a smiling face.
"Uh…"
When Natsu and Lucy saw the guild master, they immediately shivered. Deep inside, both of them felt a bad premonition.
"You two are really something."
"You actually dared to go do an S-Class job?"
"Amazing…"
Makarov was praising Natsu and Lucy with his mouth, but what was actually going on was perfectly clear to both of them.
"Natsu is awake?"
Just as Lucy and Natsu were trembling, another person walked into their room, accompanied by a cool, valiant female voice. The person who came in was Erza, who had just returned from a job.
"Erza…"
Natsu immediately trembled even harder. Seeing Erza was like a mouse seeing a cat. This reaction had already been carved into his DNA.
"I heard the two of you actually dared to go execute an S-Class job on your own. How reckless!"
"Fortunately, Jovian was there, so nothing serious happened."
Erza first angrily scolded the two of them, then looked at the two unharmed people and let out a breath of relief.
"Jovian? Right, what happened after that? We don't remember…"
After hearing Jovian's name, Natsu and Lucy suddenly remembered. They remembered arriving on the island, but as for what happened after that, they had no memory at all.
"Jovian completed the S-Class job for you, and afterward, he brought you back from the island. It's that simple."
Guild Master Makarov explained what Jovian had done.
"He completed the S-Class job for us?"
"And he brought us back too?"
Natsu and Lucy froze. They had never expected that Jovian would end up completing the job in their place.
"That's so sneaky! That was obviously the job I took!"
The moment Natsu heard that Jovian had completed the job, he immediately became upset and shouted loudly.
"Natsu…"
After hearing Natsu's words, Erza walked in front of him.
"Hm?"
Natsu froze, not knowing why Erza was calling him.
"You don't know what's good for you."
Erza suddenly punched him. With the sound of air being torn apart, her fist slammed into Natsu's abdomen.
"Gah…"
In an instant, Natsu collapsed onto the bed behind him and lay motionless.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
Seeing Natsu get beaten up by Erza, Lucy kept apologizing.
"It's fine. Jovian also said he was willing to take responsibility for the mistakes you two made. That's why he finished the job as well."
Erza shook her head, indicating that she did not intend to pursue the issue of their responsibility.
"In other words, Jovian only used half a day to not only bring Natsu and me back from the island, but also complete the job while he was at it? And it was an S-Class job!"
Only then did Lucy suddenly realize that Jovian had essentially completed an S-Class job in just a few dozen minutes. What terrifying strength was that?
"Yes."
"Even taking into account Jovian's speed, and subtracting the travel time, it's still hard for me to understand how exactly he completed the mission. To finish the job so well in such a short time, Jovian's strength may have already reached a level that even I find out of reach…"
Erza nodded. When she had heard about this, she had also found it extremely exaggerated. She had not expected Jovian's strength to be this powerful.
"That's true."
"Even I can no longer see through the current Jovian…"
Makarov nodded, showing that he agreed with Erza and the others.
"What?"
"Even you, Master…"
Erza froze. She had always thought Jovian was very strong, but only a bit stronger than her. Now it seemed she had underestimated Jovian. Jovian's strength was still beyond her imagination.
"You young people really are getting stronger and stronger…"
"That's a good thing…"
"With you, Jovian, Natsu, Gray, and the others in the guild, I can rest easy in the future…"
"It's just that Laxus. That boy really makes me worry…"
Makarov sighed. He thought helplessly that in the entire Fairy Tail guild, there was only one person who made him feel truly helpless. That was his own grandson, Laxus, who had inherited his talent and even showed signs of surpassing him.
"Laxus is just being a little rebellious."
"One day, he'll understand your intentions, Master."
Erza tried to comfort him.
"I hope so…"
Makarov lifted his head and looked at the ceiling, his eyes carrying a thoughtful look.
"Um, is there some relationship between Laxus and Guild Master Makarov?"
Lucy quietly asked Happy. She felt that the guild master seemed overly concerned about Laxus.
"Laxus is the master's biological grandson. If nothing unexpected happens, he'll be the next guild master."
After hearing her question, Happy answered Lucy.
"What?"
Lucy's expression changed. Just imagining Laxus becoming guild master made her feel somewhat unable to accept it. After all, Laxus was someone who did not treat his companions as companions.
Meanwhile…
Inside a pitch-black guild…
A man in a suit stood in front of a Mage dressed like a clown and spoke coldly. "I'll leave my daughter to you."
"Relax. We will definitely rescue your daughter safely from that Fairy Tail…"
The man revealed an evil face. He laughed viciously, with a hint of madness.
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