The Nine Demon Gates' Jackal Appears!

Doranbolt's heart sank into an abyss of ice. He gripped Lahar's cold collar tightly with both hands, his lips turning blue and trembling.

Doranbolt abruptly turned his head, surveying the entire ruined battlefield with near-madness.

Speaker Gran Doma lay half-dead beside the ruins of the bench. The kingdom's top councilors, such as Michello, Belno, and Reiji, were now all charred and twisted corpses, scattered lifelessly among the rubble.

The powerful council leaders, who Magic Council immense Brain throughout the country, were all wiped out in this inexplicable attack!

Doranbolt slammed his fists into the ground, completely losing control of his emotions, and Roar desperately to the sky.

"This... this is impossible! This is absolutely impossible!!"

"Everyone's wiped out?! Is anyone a survivor?! Anyone, please answer me!!"

In the empty, dilapidated ruins, only the howling wind whipped up sparks.

Just as Doranbolt was falling into utter despair and utter hopelessness.

From inside a collapsed giant stone sculpture diagonally behind, a barely perceptible sound of loosening bricks and stones suddenly came, accompanied by a faint dry cough.

"Cough... cough cough... Doranbolt..."

A faint, hoarse call pierced through the smoke and dust.

Doranbolt was startled and immediately looked in the direction of the sound.

Beneath the shattered stone platform of the parliament, Senator Oge, with only one arm remaining, was pinned down by two beams, his lower body covered in blood, dark red blood foam constantly oozing from his mouth, yet his chest was still heaving with difficulty!

There are still living people!

Congressman Oge is still alive!

Doranbolt, as if a drowning man had grasped at a last straw, unleashed magical power beneath his feet, transforming into a blur as he madly charged toward the pile of rubble where Oge was.

"Lord Oge! Hold on! I'll move the rocks and get you out right now!!"

However, before Doranbolt's fingertips could even touch the broken stone beam, he was kicked away by a suddenly appearing leg.

Then, a dark figure fell straight down from mid-air like a ghost, landing firmly on the top of the stone pillar that was pressing down on Oge.

The newcomer was lean and slender, with two sharp, wolf-like ears sticking out from the top of his head, and sharp fangs on the lower half of his face. He was clearly a ferocious demon in half-beast form!

The demon looked down at him, casually extending an arm and pressing it lightly onto Oge's blood-soaked skull.

A mocking and cruel sneer appeared on that beast-like face.

"No, bro."

The demon turned his mouth, which was full of sharp teeth, and spoke with a condescending tone.

"This old man can't leave alive. Lord Hades' purge target clearly states the heads of all nine councilors in this department."

"If I'm missing even one, I won't get full marks on my task."

Before the words were even finished, the five fingers pressed on Oge's head suddenly lit up with a dazzling, dark yellow light, as extremely dangerous high-explosive magic was frantically compressed and gathered in his palm!

The demon's eyes blazed with murderous intent, and it grinned, letting out a bloodthirsty growl.

"Die, you old bastard!!"

Doranbolt's pupils constricted, his heart leaped into his throat, and he stomped his feet on the ground, trying to lunge forward to stop him.

"Stop!! Stop right now!!"

With his head held down, Oge used the last of his strength to widen his eyes and let out a desperate final Roar at Doranbolt, who was lunging at him.

"Run!! Doranbolt! Don't worry about me!!"

Doranbolt's eye socket was completely torn open, but his pace didn't stop; instead, it became even more frantic.

"I can't do it! I absolutely can't leave you alone!!"

Blood and foam gushed from the corner of Oge's mouth as he shoved his single arm into the rubble, and with the force that seemed to tear his throat apart, he roared out the most resolute command of his life!

"Escape!! Get out of here right now!!"

"Go find Jiang Bai!! Go to Magnolia and find Fairy Tail!!"

Tell Jiang Bai everything that happened here, without missing a single word!

Oge's face became incredibly resolute amidst the dazzling light of his self-destruction; it was his last and only entrustment to this world.

"These demons crawled out of the abyss of hell... Only Jiang Bai in the entire world can wipe them all out!!"

"Only Jiang Bai can solve this!! Get out of here!!"

The words had barely left his mouth!

Rumble--!

An extremely violent high-pressure explosion erupted right above Oge's head!

The blinding fireball suddenly expanded to tens of meters above the ruins, and the huge shockwave directly blew Doranbolt, who rushed up, hundreds of meters away, where he crashed into the charred ruins, rolled around, and coughed up blood.

The ruins of the entire central hall were once again subjected to a devastating secondary cleansing, with even the rubble being pulverized into charred slag under the extreme heat.

Oge's figure, along with the two massive beams, was completely reduced to ashes in the flames.

Doranbolt, rolling in the mud, gritted his teeth so hard they shattered, his mouth filled with the bitter taste of blood.

Seeing the execution site completely engulfed in flames, Doranbolt forcibly suppressed the urge to rush forward and die. He instantly activated a Space Transfer spell, transforming himself into a distorted, transparent ripple that vanished into thin air.

The thick smoke gradually dissipated.

The orc demon standing at the edge of the crater at the center of the explosion brushed the sparks off his trench coat without even blinking, making no attempt to track down the fleeing Doranbolt.

A lowly mage responsible for running errands and conducting reconnaissance is not worthy of being taken seriously by the Tartaros.

The demon lowered its head, glanced around at the several completely dead skeletons of humanity's highest Brain, put its hands in its coat pockets, and grinned in a cruel, chilling white smile.

A calm, low voice echoed eerily above the empty, desolate ruins of death.

"I am the Jackal, one of the Nine Demon Gates of the Tartaros."

"Nine distinguished councilors, once you're in the icy depths of hell, be sure to remember this name at all times."

"After all... that's the name that utterly annihilated and buried your entire Magic Council headquarters."