Throne of Water, Kruse

Magnolia.

Hodrian stood with his hands behind his back by the window of a hotel.

Another winter has arrived, and this year's winter is exceptionally cold, with numerous blizzards. However, compared to his homeland, this place is quite warm.

Hodrian was not from the Kingdom of Fiore; he was born in a country Duchy of Yalan of Aran, north of Ishgar. The northern kingdoms of Ishgar were not as peaceful as one might imagine. Compared to the tranquility of the Kingdom of Fiore, war raged there almost every day and night.

Even among the northern kingdoms, the Duchy of Yalan is located quite far north, hence its nickname Land of Winter.

Hodrian was born in an ordinary little village in the Duchy of Yalan. At a young age, he displayed extraordinary magical talent and was forcibly taken away by the duchy's army to join the magic force of the Duchy of Yalan.

Because the Duchy of Yalan is perpetually covered in ice and snow, it highly reveres fire mages. In some frigid places, a single flame might save a life.

Surprisingly, Hodrian was exceptionally gifted in all forms of magic, except for fire magic, which he knew absolutely nothing about.

This resulted in him not being able to command the army even after he became the strongest mage in the duchy.

The reason is that the general in that period was a fire mage.

The Duchy of Yalan's worship of fire has reached an almost fanatical level. Not only do fire mages have a much higher status than other mages, but even the duchy's general must be a fire mage.

Later, he clashed with the general during a crucial battle. The general advocated an attack to destroy the enemy capital in one fell swoop. However, he demanded a retreat because the enemy had space mages and flying units, which could potentially allow them to be overwhelmed. But the general was eager to achieve glory and believed that his army could annihilate the enemy in their capital before they could even launch an attack. Therefore, he stripped Hodrian of his military command and launched a full-scale attack on the enemy capital.

In the end, Hodrian was left to support the capital alone.

Although the capital was ultimately defended, he paid an extremely heavy price. Afterwards, he became disillusioned with the duchy, withdrew from the army, and began to devote himself to the research of various forms of magic, taking on many apprentices.

Basically, Ishgar has students in every country. This is what it means to have students all over the world.

"Teacher, are we really not going to rescue my sister?"

Behind Hodrian, Haiweier asked.

But Hodrian did not answer her question, and continued to face the window.

"That child won't allow us to do anything outside the rules," Hodrian said slowly.

Haiweier fell silent, a look of frustration on her face.

"Trust that child, and... everyone in Fairy Tail," Hodrian said calmly.

Dragon Corpse Valley.

In the snow-covered valley, apart from the howling wind, there was no other sound.

If someone could look down from the sky, they would see that this desolate valley is eerily filled with wisps of black energy.

"What are these?" Tianna looked up and couldn't help but ask.

Although these extremely faint black wisps were difficult to spot in the valley, her keen senses allowed her to observe their presence.

"The death energy... is coming from underground." Chiba lay on the ground, then stood up, his brows furrowed.

He finally understood why he had been searching for so long in this already strange valley without finding anything; the problem wasn't on the surface at all.

"Death energy?" Tianna asked.

"The aura of death," Chiba explained simply.

"By the way, didn't you say there was a Magic Crystal Ore? Where is it?" Chiba raised an eyebrow and asked in a deep voice.

Tianna shook her head blankly. "I don't know either, I just know there's news that... Ah!"

Before Tianna could finish speaking, the earth began to tremble. To their horror, a bottomless abyss appeared in the ground ahead.

"Chiba, danger! Something's coming out of there!" Feiyin whispered.

Chiba's face darkened, his body tensed, and he lowered his voice to Tianna beside him, "Be prepared to escape at any time. There might be some troublesome guys coming out from inside."

Tianna held her breath slightly, but lowered her center of gravity slightly, a posture of being ready to strike at any moment.

The wind and snow continued to howl, growing ever fiercer. The abyss ahead was pitch black, but as the two watched with bated breath, a platform slowly rose from below.

On the platform were young men dressed in black robes, each with the same expression, as if... they were a group of emotionless dolls.

Their robes were all embroidered with a skull and longsword, making them particularly eye-catching.

In front of all the men in black robes stood a young man in gray, holding a long spear in his hand. His sharply defined face carried a nonchalant expression, but only when he looked at Chiba did his expression become serious and solemn.

"The sword of slaughter..." Tianna's breathing quickened slightly as she spoke softly.

It's actually quite easy to see that if there's something wrong with Dragon Corpse Valley, it's most likely the work of the Sword of Slaughter. That guild has been stationed here for so long, how could they possibly let Dragon Corpse Valley, with its Magic Crystal Ore, go unpunished?

But... who sent this message to the Magic Council? And who assigned this task to Tianna?

"Hey kid over there!"

Suddenly, the young leader raised his spear, pointing the tip at Chiba, and shouted, "You're the ninja who killed Rina and severely injured our guild leader... right?!"

Chiba's expression was somewhat gloomy, and he did not answer the question. The other party knew of his existence and even said, "Severely injure our guild leader." To be honest, Chiba had only ever severely injured the guild leader of Shadow Skull before. Therefore, this person was very likely a member of Shadow Skull headquarters.

Seeing that Chiba did not answer, the young man was not annoyed. He grinned, then raised his spear and shouted, "Kill these intruders!"

The men in black robes did not respond to him, but instead moved in unison, rushing towards the two of them.

At a glance, there were at least three or four hundred black-robed figures here, and judging from their running speed and momentum, they were not comparable to third-rate C-Class individuals. Aside from their Tailed Beast Transformation, the two of them would soon be killed by these people.

"Escape!"

They made a quick decision, exchanged a glance, and then vanished simultaneously.

Chiba used the Shadow Form, while Tianna used wind magic to enhance her speed.

"Hey... Trying to escape? It's not that easy!"

The young man planted his spear in the ground, and a huge blue magic circle formed beneath his feet. As if in response, a huge magic circle also formed in the sky, and four blue rays of light shot out, descending from the sky to the earth, finally forming a rectangular blue light curtain.

"It's a barrier!" Tianna exclaimed.

"A water barrier..." Chiba stopped, turned to the young man, and asked in a deep voice, "Who are you?"

The young man shouldered his rifle, grinned, and said, "My name is Kruse Andor..."

"The Throne of Water, one of the four thrones of the Shadow Skull..."