Mest Awakens

Without a second's hesitation, Wendy rushed forward and knelt on the blood-stained wooden floor.

Two delicate white hands quickly overlapped and hovered above Mest's charred and sunken chest. A clear and soft sky-colored halo suddenly shone from her palms, transforming into gentle, healing light bands that softly seeped into the broken bones and meridians.

Wendy focused intently on guiding the pure magic within her body, and fine beads of sweat gradually appeared on her forehead.

Under the powerful nourishment of the Sky Dragon Slayer Magic, Mest's heartbeat, which had been as weak as a spider's thread, finally began to beat steadily again, and her gruesome, charred flesh began to stop bleeding and scab over at a visible speed.

During a break in treatment.

The Fairy Tail members surrounding them began whispering amongst themselves again, speculating all at once.

"Hiss... Just what kind of ruthless person did this? He's half-dead from the injuries."

"Mest is a space mage with high-level teleportation magic, an elite captain in the Magic Council, and a first-rate escape artist, yet she's been beaten to this state."

"Look at those large lacerations and carbonization marks on his body... Could the Magic Council headquarters have been attacked?!"

"What a joke! That's the headquarters of the Magic Council! The place with the densest defensive spells on the entire continent, housing thousands of regular council soldiers and nine powerful councilors. Who the hell would be so foolish as to dare to single-handedly storm the Magic Council? Are they out of their mind?!"

"That's right, what lunatic on the entire continent would have the audacity to provoke such a powerful figure..."

That brings us to this.

The noisy hall suddenly went silent without warning.

It was as if his vocal cords had been instantly severed by some invisible force of law.

Natsu was stunned.

Gray stood frozen in place.

The ash from Macao's cigarette fell with a thud onto his feet.

Do you dare to raid the Magic Council?

Does the Magic Council the law?

Are they treating these high-ranking legislators like radishes and cabbages, to be kneaded and manipulated at will?

Etc!

On this continent... it seems, perhaps, maybe... there really is such a supreme troublemaker who doesn't Magic Council like human beings at all!!

Brush!

Without any verbal exchange, the eyes of all the dozens of mages in the guild moved in unison and were all fixed on Jiang Bai, who was watching the show with his hands in his pockets!

His eyes were filled with a complex mix of doubt, certainty, and a "could it have been you?" look.

After all, everyone on the entire continent knows this.

On the eve of the final battle on Tenrou Island, the Magic Council secretly activated the Etherion in an attempt to annihilate the entire island. Afterwards, the former council members had their arms severed and were knocked to the mortal realm by a mysterious figure in their respective Hidden residences, leading to their resignations!

Looking further ahead, the Magic Council sent special envoys several times to try and make things difficult for Fairy Tail, but Jiang Bai used spatial shockwaves to send them flying on the spot, causing them to lose all face!

If we're talking about who in the world dislikes the Magic Council the most, and who has the absolute power to secretly turn the Magic Council upside down...

Aside from the person right in front of me, I can't find a more suitable candidate!

He was being stared at by everyone in the guild as the prime arson suspect.

Jiang Bai, who had been looking relaxed, suddenly had his lips twitch violently twice, and three black lines instantly appeared on his forehead.

Jiang Bai said loudly, sounding annoyed.

"Hey! You bunch of idiots! What are you looking at me for?!"

"Do you really think I went and demolished the Magic Council building because I was bored out of my mind?!"

Lucy timidly raised one finger and whispered cautiously.

"Well... Jiang Bai... after all, you have too many criminal records... and it seems like you're the only one in the world capable of doing something like this..."

"Criminal record my ass!!"

Jiang Bai turned around and gave Lucy a sharp flick on the forehead.

"I just got back from soaking in the hot springs with you guys at Grandpa Warrod's! How could I have time to go to the Magic Council murder and arson?!"

"If I really wanted to take action and raze the Magic Council, I would have flattened that broken mountain with a single slap back when I returned from Tenrou Island. Why would I need to sneak around and drag it out until now?"

After being bombarded with Jiang Bai's blunt honesty, everyone shrank back guiltily.

Looking at his companions' smug, disbelieving faces...

Jiang Bai's temple throbbed, and he pulled his right hand out of his trouser pocket, cracking his knuckles with a chilling snapping sound.

Jiang Bai surveyed the entire room, then turned his head to reveal an extremely "friendly and gentle" smile.

"Looks like everyone's been itching to get back to work after winning first place in the Grand Magic Games lately."

"Since they all have so much energy that they have the leisure to make up stories in their heads..."

Jiang Bai pointed to the wide, desolate wilderness behind the guild gate.

"If you keep staring at me, once Wendy wakes this guy up, everyone pack your bags and come with me to the back mountain for a month-long, fully enclosed intensive training camp!"

"I'll train you bunch of bastards until you can't even take care of yourselves, or I'll change Jiang Bai name!"

Intensive training and field exercises!!

Hearing those four words, which sounded like a death sentence from hell!

The air temperature inside the entire guild hall instantly plummeted to absolute zero!

The terrifying memories of being unilaterally beaten to a pulp by Jiang Bai behind the guild and forced to run under Jiang Bai's Spiritual Pressure instantly gnawed at the brains of every veteran member like a malignant tumor!

That was a true nightmare!

Natsu was so frightened that his pink hair instantly stood on end like a hedgehog, and he whirled his head to the side at lightning speed, his eyes fixed on Mest on the ground.

"Oh no! Mest's injuries are too serious! Wendy, you need to heal her with all your might!"

Gray jerked his neck back as if he'd been electrocuted, clasping his hands together in a gesture of utmost devotion in prayer.

"Yes, yes! Mest brothers, hang in there! If you die, the entire Fairy Tail team will be devastated!!"

Macao and Wakaba, those two heavy smokers, immediately knelt down on the edge of the pool of blood, their faces filled with deep sorrow and grief, and began to wail like drama queens.

"What a tragedy! How could such a pillar of the Magic Council fall here!"

"Brother Mest! Wake up! I'll go boil some water and make your medicine right away!!"

The group of rough men who were gritting their teeth and wanting to beat the undercover agent to a pulp just a moment ago have now transformed into brothers-in-arms, surrounding the seriously injured and unconscious Mest and showing her concern. Their acting was exaggerated to the extreme.

If an outsider unaware of the inside story walked in, they might really think that the entire Fairy Tail crew had bowed to heaven and earth and kowtowed to this person.

Lucy stood to the side, covering her cheeks with both hands, her mouth twitching wildly, utterly speechless.

"These guys... just how incredibly strong is their will to survive...?"

Jiang Bai snorted coldly, put his hands back into his trouser pockets, and leaned lazily against the pillar next to him.

And with Wendy's healing magic continuing to flow...

Lying on the cold ground, Mest's fingers twitched slightly, and her eyelids opened a crack heavily.

His unfocused gaze struggled to focus on the familiar faces around him.

When they clearly saw Wendy kneeling before them, casting a spell with all her might, and Jiang Bai standing calmly at the very front, they realized...

As if in a final burst of energy, Mest unleashed an astonishing burst of willpower, and with a hand stained with blood and mud, she suddenly grabbed Jiang Bai's trouser leg tightly!

His lips trembled violently, blood gushed from between his teeth, and he let out a hoarse, desperate cry of despair!

"Jiang... Jiang Bai!!"

"The Magic Council... the Magic Council completely finished!!"

"Lord Oge... Lahar... all nine councilors... all of them... all of them died in the explosion!!"