Oración Seis

Lucy was slumped over the bar, sighing over the enormous gap between her meager savings and Jiang Bai's terrifying "safety threshold."

Just then, she noticed a group of people gathered not far away, pointing and gesturing at something in mid-air, having a heated discussion.

Curiosity drove her to move closer.

What is this?

Lucy squeezed through the crowd and saw the guild's painter mage, Reedus, using his "Pict Magic" to draw complex lines and frames in mid-air.

It was marked with different names and emblems, looking like a huge and complex network of relationships.

"It was drawn by Reedus, the organizational chart of the Dark Guild," someone explained to her.

"Ah!" Lucy was startled by the densely packed names on the picture.

"Wow, there are so many dark guilds?"

Before joining Fairy Tail, she had heard of the term "dark guild," but it was no different from an ordinary person hearing about the underworld.

It was just a distant and vague concept; I had never actually encountered it.

After joining a guild, she only encountered small, dark guilds like 'Eisenwald'.

Erza stood before the chart, nodding solemnly. "Hmm, the statistics are truly astonishing."

"Why are we suddenly talking about this?" Lucy asked, puzzled.

Mirajane walked over from behind the bar, her expression somewhat grave. She explained, "It seems that the destructive magic 'Etherion' from the Magic Council was destroyed by a traitor."

"And this news was then leaked by this traitor, making it known to all the dark guilds."

"Without the deterrent Etherion, those guys have started to become more active lately, seemingly plotting some new operation."

Lucy immediately recalled the terrifying magic that Jellal had tried to use to resurrect Zeref at the Tower of Heaven.

Although Jiang Bai easily absorbed that devastating energy, she knew very well that there was only one Jiang Bai in this world.

The "Etherion" that is capable of destroying a country in an instant is undoubtedly the most powerful deterrent to all dark guilds.

Mirajane continued, "The Magic Council currently undergoing an emergency reorganization, Etherion cannot be restored in a short time, so this pressure has fallen on us, the regular guilds."

"Hey! What's that biggest circle?" Natsu asked, pointing to the most prominent area in the very center of the organizational chart.

"You idiot, didn't you hear anything when everyone was discussing it?"

Gray made a sarcastic remark to Natsu as usual, but still explained it to him.

"This is the 'Balam Alliance,' a dark guild that is the largest dark force composed of three of the most powerful dark guilds: 'Oración Seis,' 'Grimoire Heart,' and 'Tartaros.'"

Juvia immediately followed up on Gray's words, saying, "Yes, Lord Gray is right. And all the smaller guilds connected to this large circle are directly subordinate guilds of those three guilds."

"Among all the dark guilds, the only one that doesn't associate with them and acts independently is 'Raven Tail'."

Suddenly, Lucy saw a familiar name in the picture.

"Huh? This 'Eisenwald'?"

Erza nodded. "That's right, it's the guild that 'Shinigami' Erigor belongs to, the one we encountered during our mission."

"Hey!" Happy exclaimed, suddenly realizing.

"So that guild belonged to 'Oración Seis'!"

"There are so many familiar names,"

Wakaba, who was smoking a cigarette nearby, pointed to a few other names on the picture and said...

Macao nodded, his expression grave. "Yes, there are even some that used to be legitimate guilds, but later degenerated into dark guilds."

Wakaba and Macao are now among the most senior mages in Fairy Tail.

After all, being a mage is a profession that requires a life on the edge of a knife, demanding extremely high levels of mental strength, physical stamina, and power. Many older mages have already retired.

Although they were only in their thirties, they had undoubtedly experienced far more than young people like Natsu.

"I've heard that," Juvia added, adding another piece of information she had heard.

"That 'Oración Seis' guild actually only has six members!"

"Huh! Only six people?!" Happy exclaimed in shock.

"Only six people can become one of the three major dark forces?!"

Hearing this, Lucy felt a chill run down her spine. She whispered fearfully, "What should we do... they're all so scary... we should try not to provoke them, okay?"

Just as Lucy was feeling a little guilty about her own "don't cause trouble" remarks, a lazy voice suddenly broke the tense atmosphere.

"Okay, Mira, I'll choose this one!"

Jiang Bai had returned from in front of the task panel at some point, and he slapped a task order on the bar.

Upon hearing the sound, Lucy's curiosity instantly overcame her fear. She craned her neck and secretly peeked at the task sheet in Jiang Bai's hand.

She didn't see exactly what it was about, but the four big characters "Ten-Year Quest" stamped in red at the top of the task sheet, and the long string of zeros at the bottom, almost blinded her.

"Sixty... sixty million J!!"

Lucy's exclamation echoed throughout the entire guild hall.

"Hiss--!"

The other members around who heard this number couldn't help but gasp, and then cast envious, jealous, and resentful glances at them.

As expected of Jiang Bai, they either don't make a single sale for a year, or when they do, they make enough to last the whole year.

Everyone was envious, but no one dared to say they wanted to go along.

Although the guild rules have changed, allowing ordinary members to accept S-Class Missions as long as they are accompanied by S-Class Mage, this rule is essentially meaningless.

There are only a handful of S-Class Mages in the guild, and every single one of them has problems.

The strongest Gildarts is away on missions most of the year, and he is rarely seen.

Although Mirajane has regained her Demon powers, she now prefers to work as a bartender and has announced her retirement from the front lines.

Laxus did stay, but everyone had only just repaired their relationship with him, and they were far from being familiar enough to team up and do missions together.

As for that mysterious Mystogan, every time he returned to the guild, he would use magic to put everyone into a deep sleep, so you couldn't even see his face, let alone form a party.

Erza was an option, but the thought of enduring her relentless lecturing was enough to deter most people.

As for Jiang Bai... the missions he takes on are often of the "Ten-Year Quest" level.

Ordinary people who go along will only be a burden and a drag on the team. They won't have the nerve to ask for a share of that astronomical reward.

So, after all this time, there really isn't a single non- S-Class Mage in the entire guild who has successfully taken on a mission of S-Class or higher.