Minerva Picked a Fight with the Wrong Person

Sting's tense nerves relaxed, and a feeling of weakness washed over him.

The thought of continuing the fight vanished completely.

Victory or defeat? Champion? The kingdom's strongest throne?

Compared to the partner he had lost and found again, all the so-called glory that Chairman Jiemma used to talk about every day was nothing more than mud on the roadside.

Sting slumped to the ground, gently rubbing his cheek against Lector's Maka, completely abandoning his fighting stance.

Standing a few steps away, Rogue concealed the shadows that were lurking around him.

Rogue looked down at Sting, then looked up at Jiang Bai, who was standing directly in front of him with his hands in his pockets.

Although Rogue was usually taciturn, he was not mentally impaired and would not do something as foolish as knowingly heading straight for his death.

Now that Sting has found Lector, this hopeless battle with no chance of winning has lost all meaning in continuing.

In the center of the entire ruins plaza, the Sabertooth was still able to stand and breathe, was now all alone in the blink of an eye.

Minerva gripped the folding fan tightly in her hand, the fan ribs making a harsh rubbing sound between her fingers.

Rufus was kicked unconscious.

Orga was brutally beaten and collapsed.

Sting and Rogue surrendered on the spot.

The title of the largest guild in the entire kingdom, the highest honor of seven years without a single defeat, was completely and utterly destroyed right before their very eyes in just a short fifteen minutes.

Minerva's breathing became rapid, and her inner defenses completely crumbled.

"I haven't lost yet!"

Minerva screamed, pointing her folding fan directly at Jiang Bai's face.

"Sabertooth is the strongest guild in the kingdom! I, this young lady, am the ultimate winner! I..."

"Shut up!"

Jiang Bai interrupted this pointless and impotent rage directly.

Jiang Bai picked at his ear with his little finger, flicking away non-existent dust from his fingernail.

"Your foul mouth chatters on and on all day long, it's driving me crazy."

Jiang Bai put his hands back into his coat pockets and turned slightly to the side.

"Since you're so eager to play and so unwilling to accept defeat, fine, I'll be merciful and give you a chance today."

Jiang Bai's thoughts stirred slightly.

The absolute spatial suppression that had been tightly enveloping the ruins plaza was completely dispelled in an instant.

Minerva sensed that the stagnant spatial magic within her body was beginning to circulate again, and the imaginary number channel, which had been tightly sealed, was once again open to her senses.

The illusion of renewed power quickly gave rise to entirely new, blind ideas.

Minerva forcefully opened her folding fan, covering the lower half of her face, and let out a sharp laugh.

"How dare you look down on me like this! You are incredibly arrogant!"

Minerva slammed her right foot down, shattering the floor tiles, and a spatial rift opened up beneath her foot.

"Today I'm going to teach you a lesson: life-or-death battles between mages are never decided by brute force alone!"

Before she could finish speaking, Minerva fell directly into the distorted imaginary void, her entire figure evaporating into thin air and disappearing.

A direct assault on Jiang Bai?

Even the most arrogant Minerva knew that a direct attack would be suicidal.

The instant she entered the space, Minerva's brain had already rapidly locked onto the best route to break the deadlock.

Fairy Tail has three members remaining on the field.

Natsu and Gajeel are thick-skinned and roam freely, their whereabouts unpredictable.

However, Juvia, the female mage specializing in water magic, had already shown her weakness in terms of resilience during a water polo match.

By using his stealthy teleportation ability, he can sneak up behind Juvia and launch a lightning strike, taking the woman hostage and holding her firmly in his grasp!

Then, by holding the blade to the hostage's throat, Jiang Bai will be forced to surrender by self-harm in front of the entire kingdom's audience. The championship trophy will still belong to Sabertooth!

This vicious and self-proclaimed brilliant plan had just begun to take shape in Minerva's mind.

A few hundred meters away at a street corner in the South District, a spatial rift silently opened up.

Minerva stepped out of the imaginary space with great joy.

However, before her heels had even fully touched the bluestone ground, Minerva's cold smile froze on the spot.

Three meters directly in front of you.

Jiang Bai stood calmly in the shadow of the streetlights, his hands in his coat pockets, in the exact same posture as when he was in the ruins square.

Jiang Bai acted as if he hadn't moved an inch, or as if he had been standing there waiting for a long time from the very beginning.

Jiang Bai tilted his head and spoke directly.

"Why are you running so fast? Where are you planning to go?"

Minerva was so frightened that she took half a step back, and the hairs on her body stood on end.

How could it be so fast?!

I clearly used the highest level of directional spatial jump, traversing three whole city blocks!

Minerva didn't dare hesitate for a second. She pushed off with her feet again, twisted her waist, and frantically shrank back into the imaginary space.

The void rift closed rapidly.

Jiang Bai stood there, watching the empty space disappear before his eyes, and couldn't help but let out a sneer.

"Innocent."

Jiang Bai slowly pulled his right hand out of his pocket.

His five fingers were spread out completely in mid-air, aimed at the void that Minerva had just disappeared into.

"You think you can escape my senses by hiding in the spatial interlayer?"

Jiang Bai's right hand suddenly tightened, his five fingers clenching into a solid iron fist.

The surrounding spatial structures, spanning several meters, emitted a crisp sound like shattering glass.

The entire folded imaginary void disintegrated instantly under the terrifying pressure of Psychokinesis.

The immense repulsive force generated by the structural collapse, like a surging wave, forcefully expelled the living creatures hidden inside.

Minerva was thrown out of the air in a disheveled state, her back slamming heavily against the hard stone wall, her folding fan flying several meters away from her hand.

Minerva fell to the ground, her hair completely disheveled, with a few strands of purple hair clinging to the edge of her cheeks.

Jiang Bai walked forward step by step, his shoes making regular, muffled thuds on the ground.

Let me guess.

Jiang Bai looked down at the woman on the ground, his tone revealing neither joy nor anger.

"Since you kept shouting that you would defeat me, but after releasing the spatial seal, your first reaction wasn't to attack me, but instead you desperately fled in this direction."

Jiang Bai extended his right index finger, pointing towards the location where the waterways and roads in the southern district intersect.

"If I remember correctly, that direction leads to the area where Juvia was searching alone, right?"

Jiang Bai crouched down, looking directly at Minerva lying on the ground.

"Instead of confronting me directly, you're rushing to find my guildmates. Are you planning to kidnap someone to threaten me?"

Minerva's pupils suddenly contracted to their maximum size, and her eyes widened to their limit.

The most Hidden, deadly plan in his heart was exposed and completely revealed to him by the other party in its very first stage.

How did he see through it?

This spatial jump had only been initiated once, taking less than two seconds in total!

Jiang Bai looked at the face filled with horror and straightened up.

"Your eyes are so wide open, it seems I guessed right."

Jiang Bai pulled his left hand out of his pocket and casually flicked his wrist.

"You actually dare to have such a thought?"

Jiang Bai's volume didn't increase, but the temperature between his words plummeted to freezing point.

"Who do you think you are? You think you're something special just because you use a few sneak attacks in the ring?!"

The next second.

An indescribable, terrifying aura erupted from Jiang Bai's body without reservation, instantly and firmly anchoring him to Minerva.

A deathly silence fell over the area surrounding the dilapidated streets.

Minerva tried to reach for the folding fan on the ground, but found that her arms felt like they were filled with iron, and she couldn't even move a single finger.

Immediately afterwards, the air in my lungs was forcibly squeezed out by this violent pressure.

Minerva opened her mouth wide, trying to inhale deeply, but could only produce a weak, hoarse sound like a broken bellows.

Gravity, air pressure, light—all the rules of this area seemed to be forcibly stripped away at this moment.

Minerva's mind was filled with only one clear feedback: the whole world was consciously rejecting her existence, and if the man in front of her made a single thought, her body would be crushed into mincemeat on the spot.

This overwhelming force, originating from the level of life itself, penetrated the physical barrier of the arena and spread throughout the entire arena.

Although Jiang Bai's killing intent was only targeted at Minerva, all living beings in the skies above Crocus City were frantically sounding alarms due to their biological instincts.

In the commentary booth.

Chapati's two microphones clattered to the table, and he froze in his chair, his shirt soaked with cold sweat.

Chapati's hands trembled uncontrollably as he stammered to himself.

"What's going on...? Why do I suddenly feel like there's a guillotine hanging over my head, ready to fall at any moment...?"

Yajima, who was sitting next to him, put down his teacup. His aged face showed no extra emotion; he simply sighed calmly.

"That little girl, Minerva, has really messed with someone she absolutely shouldn't have this time."

On the long street of ruins.

Minerva trembled violently and uncontrollably, every cell in her body frantically urging her to escape this monster immediately.

But he couldn't move his body at all.

Minerva was forced to remain kneeling on the ground in an unsightly position, her eyes wide with despair as she watched Jiang Bai, with his hands in his pockets, slowly and steadily approach her, crushing the bricks and stones.